3IATERIALS FOR THOUGHT. 



MATERIALS FOR THOUGHT. 



DESIGNED FOR 

i 

YOUNG MEN 



Rev. GRIFFITH OWEN. 






: 



PHILADELPHIA: Sj -^' 
WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 

606 Chestnut Street. 
^1859. 



The Library 

of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



, CD*' 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1358, by 

WILLIAM S. & ALFRED MARTIEN, 

In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Obligations of Young Men ■ . • . 9 

The Vision of Years 17 

Thoughts on Winter. 22 

The Monitory Voice of the Season 36 

The Departure of the Old Year 42 

The Meditation of an Interesting Moment 47 

The Old and the New Year 50 

The New Year .. 59 

The Voice of the New Year 76 

The New Year ; or, Retrospects and Prospects .... 89 

Reflections on the New Year 92 

Something New for the New Year 101 

A New-Year's Gift 105 

Daily Thoughts for the First Month of the Year 123 

The First Sabbath in the Year 136 

A Heavenly Use of Earthly Things 148 

Beginning the New Year Well 152 



6 CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Looking Forward 166 

The One Thing Needful 174 

Spiritual Arithmetic • • 179 

My Meditation of Him shall be Sweet 183 

Son, go work to-day in My Vineyard 188 

Thou Crownest the Year with Thy Goodness 192 

What is Your Life? 196 

How long have I to Live? 202 

Improvement of Life 208 

Ebenezer 213 

The Duty of Self-examination . , . , 221 

Anti-Revivalist 229 

What have I done for Christ? , 234 

The Blessing Wanted by the Churches 237 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



This volume does not aim at originality; it is 
simply a compilation. The selections are made 
from choice and rare publications, not easily 
accessible to most readers. 

Should this meet with favour, it will be suc- 
ceeded by several others of similar size, on 
practical and improving subjects. 

The object of the compiler is to aid Young 
Men, and others, in becoming labourers in the 
conversion of the world. 

The present is a time for action — simple, 
direct, energetic, efficient action. Young Men 
have an important part to perform in the benign 
and glorious enterprise of winning souls to 
Christ. All have something to do for the glory 
of God, and the good of man. Let each one, 
then, be up and doing, working while the day 



8 ADVERTISEMENT. 

lasteth, seeing the night of death will soon come, 
when no man can work. 

We offer this as a New-year's Gift, with 
the prayerful hope that it may aid our Young 
Men, and others, to begin the year well. 



MATERIALS FOE THOUGHT. 



OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 

I HAYE WRITTEN UNTO YOU, YOUNG MEN, BECAUSE YE ARE 

strong. — 1 John ii. 14. 

The sainted John when he penned these words 
was standing upon the very verge of heaven; 
he had passed through the five stages of human 
existence — infancy, childhood, youth, manhood 
and old age. Time had now silvered his locks, 
and given its mellow tints to a character, which 
even in his earliest manhood had secured to 
him the title of the beloved disciple. There is 
through the whole of this epistle a vein of ex- 
quisite simplicity and tenderness. He looked 
back to the period of youth, and remembered 
how critical and important a season it had been 
to him. By the grace of God his seed-time had 
been rightly employed, and he was now reaping 
a golden harvest of sweet serenity of soul, and 
2 



10 OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 

a full assurance of eternal life. He had leaned 
upon the Saviour's bosom at the Last Supper, he 
had followed him the most closely in the hour 
of peril, and he was now finding in rich experi- 
ence that such was the best preparation a young 
man could make for the sober realities of age, 
and for an approaching eternity. Hence his 
counsels were turned to young men. " I have 
written unto you, young men, because ye are 
strong." His reference is not to the bodily, 
but mental vigour of youth. Mental strength 
is a merciful gift of God, which may be wasted 
on trifles, or perverted to evil, or used for great 
and good purposes. It is the power which God 
has imparted to form our own character, and to 
control the character and destinies of others. 
While the praise and gratitude belong to God, 
for the bestowment of it, yet to man belongs 
the privilege and responsibility of its posses- 
sion and right improvement. 

"I write unto you, young men, because ye 
are strong." Try to realize, if you can, the 
sacredness and solemnity of your calling. Your 
very position in society affords you favourable 
and peculiar facilities for helping forward the 
cause of Christ. See to it then, that you dis- 
tinctly and constantly propose to yourselves the 
glory of God, and the good of souls, as the great 



OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 11 

achievements for which, by the energy, the 
freshness, and the enthusiasm of your age, you 
are eminently and peculiarly fitted to promote. 

Your duties are two-fold. First, to your- 
selves, and afterwards to others. The first in 
order is your own salvation. For the neglect 
of this there can be no excuse. It will be of 
no avail that you have been anxious and active 
for the good of others, nothing can compen- 
sate you for your loss, nor expiate your guilt. 
"With all your gettings, therefore, get under- 
standing, and in all your ways acknowledge God, 
and he shall direct your paths." First of all 
and above all, seek heart-religion, cultivate per- 
sonal piety, grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Be not 
satisfied with past or present experience. Make 
some new attainments and discoveries in the 
divine life every day. " Follow on to know the 
Lord, till you come to the full stature of perfect 
men in Christ." Pray for the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, seek to have your souls possessed 
with the grace of God, and your hearts filled 
with the love of Christ. All this is essential for 
your comfort and usefulness in promoting the 
cause of Christ. As the only possible way for 
us to operate upon other minds is by sympathy, 
or the communication of feeling, how important 



12 OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 

then it is that we should have the right feelings 
to communicate. Religion is to be promoted by 
religious men. The measure in which it is pos- 
sessed, is the measure in which it will be be- 
stowed. We cannot hope to raise others to a 
higher level, except as we first occupy it our- 
selves. If religion in us is feeble and deformed, 
we shall fail to propagate it, or it will become 
that poor, spurious, sickly thing, unworthy of 
the care of propagation. 

What we first and chiefly need then is, before 
we look to others to look to ourselves. The 
reason why so many do almost nothing, why 
what they do is done so ill, why the attention 
is so readily diverted to secondary and sectarian 
considerations from the great things of our 
peace, is, that they require to possess religion 
for themselves in greater vitality, purity, and 
vigour. They may have received the Holy 
Spirit to their personal salvation, but if they 
are to make that salvation known in power to 
others, they require to be more fully assured by 
its truths, enriched by its consolations, and 
elevated by its power to a higher region of 
Christian life. The primitive disciples, while 
their Lord was yet with them, had faith in his 
name, but they were not prepared to declare 
that faith with intelligence and power, for the 



OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 13 

salvation of the world. They were about to 
receive a great commission, and they were to 
tarry at Jerusalem in penitence, prayerfulness, 
and expectation, till they should receive a larger 
dispensation of the Spirit of grace. And so it 
is with us now. We must seek, and wait, and 
pray for the pouring out of the Spirit from on 
high. Young men pray, pray for the baptism 
of the Holy Ghost; for the prayer that is con- 
cerned about the Spirit will be answered by the 
Spirit. You need more of the light of truth, if 
you are to enlighten others. You need more of 
the grace of life, if you are to impart life to 
others. You need a supplemental conversion, 
if you are to convert sinners to God; and you 
need a richer endowment of the Holy Ghost, 
if you are to express his unction and energy 
to the world. Let these be the living con- 
victions of your mind. Nourish them in the 
immediate presence of God. Prostrate yourself 
before his Majesty in penitence, and prayer, 
and wait in breathing expectation, until you 
shall be endued with the Spirit from on high. 
Open your whole mind and heart to the full 
accession of the Spirit of grace, and you shall 
be filled with the might and majesty of his 
presence. He shall dwell in you, walk in you, 
reign in you. You shall be inspired with all 
2* 



14 OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 

wisdom, strengthened with all might, fitted for 
all service. You need, infinitely need the Holy 
Spirit; you need nothing besides. Receive the 
Holy Spirit. 

Young men, ever keep in view that the high 
and ruling purpose of God our Saviour is to 
establish his kingdom on earth, and that as his 
true disciples this should be also your chief 
purpose in life; but you cannot advance reli- 
gion in the world, except as it is advanced in 
you. What a motive we have here for aiming 
at preeminent piety. Apart from the personal 
benefit we shall derive, it is the only effectual 
means of extending the Saviour's empire amongst 
men. All things wait for this. It is not pro- 
perty, or talent, or numbers, that we want ; it is 
exactly the right mind and the devoted heart. 
We need a clearer perception of truth, a deeper 
humiliation before God, a more realizing faith 
in the life to come, and a more thorough and 
unreserved consecration of ourselves to Christ. 
From want of this the missionary languishes in 
the field, and the rich man hoards up his money ; 
the professing Christian lives to himself; and 
the Church slumbers at her post, or springs 
into fitful action from the jealous fear of being 
outdone. The enemy is strong, and we are 
weak. And why is this? It is the part of 



OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 15 

wisdom to inquire as to the secret of our failure 
and defeat. That there is somewhere a real 
cause for all this, is beyond a doubt. Where 
shall we look for it? Not in God. For he 
waiteth to be gracious. He cannot deny himself. 
His hand is not shortened that he cannot save, 
neither his ear heavy, that he cannot hear. 
Where is it then ? Not even in the world ; 
dark and wicked as it may be, yet the secret 
of our failure and defeat is not there. Where 
then shall we look for it ? In the Church ? Yes, 
in the Church of the living God, which he has 
purchased with his own blood. She needs a 
supplemental conversion before she can become 
the prepared instrument in God's hand of con- 
verting others. She needs a fresh baptism of 
the Holy Ghost before she can become the 
ordained minister of life and bliss to a ruined 
world, and assume her destined position of uni- 
versal empire and imperishable glory. 

It becomes, then, a question of deepening 
interest — What is the precise thing the Church 
needs ? It is an increase of personal holiness, 
a deeper sense of dependence on God, and more 
fervent piety in all her members. All must be 
deeply taught, imbued, and penetrated with the 
saving influence of the Divine Spirit, and thus 
realize their oneness with each other, by their 



16 OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNQ MEN. 

living connection with their glorious Head. Thi3 
would at once secure to the Church all that she 
needs. Prayer would take a deeper tone, con- 
tributions would be made on a larger scale, the 
mind would receive a just conception of the 
grandeur of our object, the heart would be 
braced by one magnanimous purpose, and the 
band of the redeemed would be as one man, has- 
tening to bring back the Saviour and the King. 
As all of individual life must be given, so all 
of the whole Church is to be presented. The 
act of consecration is to be as extensive as the 
act of redemption. None, not the least, is to 
be exempted from the duty, or deprived of the 
privilege. Youth is to come with its enthusi- 
asm, and maturity with its experience. Babes 
and sucklings are to raise their hosannas to the 
Son of David, and the hoary head is to find its 
crown of glory in this service. The poor is to 
present his mite, and the rich to pour forth 
their treasures. The learned must yield their 
talent, and the young men their energy. On 
every volume, on every implement, on every 
ship, on every habitation, on every sanctuary, 
and on every heart of the redeemed, must be 
the one living inscription, " Holiness to the 
Lord;" and the whole Church, as the sacra- 
mental host of God's elect, must arise in her 



THE VISION OF YEARS. 17 

might, placing her feet on the weapons of 
earthly warfare, and lifting her hands to hea- 
ven, send forth the triumphant shout — The 
world for Christ ! The world for Christ ! 

Young men, see to it that you do your part 
to bring about this happy state of things. And 
may God give you the united soul, the mighty 
heart, and the perfect faith to which conflict is 
easy, and victory sure; and so dispose your 
mind that you may ascribe all the glory of your 
redemption to God and the Lamb for ever ! 



THE VISION OF YEARS. 

On the verge of the late year, and the eve of 
its successor, I was musing on the lapse of time, 
and the rapidity with which years succeed each 
other, when I sunk into that state in which the 
exercise of the senses is suspended, the imagi- 
nation takes possession of the mind, and leaves 
us no means of ascertaining whether the scenes 
which pass before us are those of fancy, or of 
vision. Leaving each reader to determine this 
as he may think most probable, I proceed to 
describe the scene which passed before me. 
From the total vacuity in which I found my- 



18 THE VISION OF YEARS. 

self when I became unconscious of the objects 
of sense, I quickly saw arise a sombre figure, 
very slenderly attired, but in a manner so pecu- 
liar, that I supposed she had dropped some 
articles of ornament or dress which she had 
formerly worn. She seemed eager for depar- 
ture, and holding her face half averted, left me 
a distinct view only of a part of her form; but 
as her appearance excited in me an unconquer- 
able desire to become acquainted with her, I 
followed with eager looks and hasty steps, 
when, still keeping her face toward the distant 
horizon, and moving off, she thus addressed me: 
" Child of Adam, I perceive thy mind, and am 
unwilling to deny thee the instruction which my 
history affords. I am the daughter of a hoary 
sire, whose name is Time, and as my father's 
children are numerous, though short-lived, the 
sons of men distinguish us by various names, and 
very frequently they just designate us by cer- 
tain numbers. My first appearance among 
mortals was in a very different form and attire. 
Hope dressed me in her own gay colours; and 
Prospect covered me with silks of various 
pleasing figures. I danced before the inhabi- 
tants of the earth to the cheerful sounds of music, 
and particularly fascinated the young, and those 
who, neglecting to learn by experience, always 



THE VISION OF YEARS. 19 

remain children. I talked to them of pleasures 
to be enjoyed, and fortunes amassed; told them 
that each generation was wiser than its fathers, 
and would succeed in schemes of pleasure and 
profit, which with all others had failed. Thus 
marly were induced to launch into expenses by 
which they are now ruined; not a few drank so 
deeply of the cup of sensual pleasures that 
; their health is impaired; while the great mass 
have for the daughter of Time neglected the 
overwhelming interest of Eternity. 

"But advancing in age, I grew more grave, 
and, as I sometimes hope, less foolish. I found 
that in the giddy dance of frivolity I had 
dropped some of the ornaments of Prospect, and 
in a fit of despondence I tore off, with my own 
hand, many of the fine colours with which 
I was bedecked by Hope. I now feel some- 
what of the chill of age, and the seriousness 
of approaching death. Nothing but what is 
solid affords me pleasure, and by way of repa- 
ration for the delusions I created in my early 
days, I leave with thee this faithful admoni- 
tion : Beivare of my successors ! Like me, while 
young they will flatter, but .their hopes are fal- 
lacious — their disappointments are cruel. Lis- 
ten to the voice -of departing Time, for this is 
faithful and true. Distrust the tales of ap- 



20 THE VISION OF YEARS. 

proaching years, they are but soothing lies. 
Above all, cease to give thyself wholly to the 
children of Time, for their stay is short; soon 
they will leave thee to dwell alone with 
Eternity.' , 

I hung upon the lips of this instructress, 
drinking in with eagerness her lessons of wis- 
dom, which I felt as medicine to my soul. 
When suddenly I perceived that she had re- 
moved from me unawares, and taking a last 
step, she seemed to descend below the horizon, 
and disappear. But on turning round with 
mingled rapture and regret, I saw approaching 
from the opposite quarter of the heavens another 
personage, whom I conjectured to be a relation, 
so great was their resemblance. Her attire, 
however, chiefly attracted my notice, for it was 
exactly what the former had described her's to 
have been in the early part of her life. Taught 
by the voice which first vibrated in my ears, I 
inspected this new appearance with the keen eye 
of suspicion, and saw beneath the gay silks that 
streamed in the wind, the sombre scanty attire 
of the former. She accosted me with many 
smiles, wished me joy of a visit from the new 
year; congratulated me on the happiness it pro- 
mised, and seemed disposed to become my confi- 
dant as well as my counsellor. But I inter- 



THE VISION OF YEARS. 21 

rupted her abruptly; told her that I had heard 
the departing voice of her predecessor, and 
begged her to lay aside her false colours, for 
they could no longer deceive. Apparently sur- 
prised, but not altogether displeased, she re- 
plied — "Son of Experience, thou art wise, and 
since thou art no longer to be deceived with the 
illusions of Hope, I will lend thee the hand of 
Opportunity. The child of Time, who now 
greets thee, shall aid thee to meet the Father of 
Eternity, to serve thy generation according to 
the will of God, and by years of religion to 
secure ages of bliss. " 

The surprise and pleasure of this address 
roused me from my entranced condition. I felt 
better and wiser from its contemplation. I 
started up, and with my pencil noted down all 
I could recollect of it, with the prayerful hope 
that each reader, instructed by the vision of 
Time, may, by the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, find it a reality, and so live and labour 
here on earth, that when they descend below 
the horizon of time and disappear, they may 
pass into the home of the redeemed, and there 
to dwell for ever with the Lord. 



22 THOUGHTS ON* WINTER. 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

And it was winter. — John x. 22. 

Ix the Holy Land "winter extends from the 
beginning of December to the end of January, 
and is often remarkable, especially in the more 
mountainous districts, for the variableness of its 
temperature and the intensity of its cold. Hence 
those realizing descriptions of winter which 
abound in Scripture, " He giveth snow like wool : 
he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He cast- 
eth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand 
before his cold?" As in all the other seasons, 
so in winter also, we see the wisdom and benefi- 
cence of the great Creator. 

" These, as they change, Almighty Father, these 
Are but the varied G-od. The rolling year 
Is full of Thee." 

The life of spring, the glory of summer, the 
bounty of autumn, and the mellowing frosts of 
winter, all proclaim the infinite goodness of that 
gracious Parent, who has said, " while the earth 
remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and 
heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
night, shall not cease." Gen. viii. 22. We may 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 23 

regard winter as a season, as an emblem, and as 
an incentive to benevolent actions. 

I. Contemplate winter as a season. As such 
it presents many themes of profitable medita- 
tions. And, 

1. Winter displays the power, wisdom, truth, 
and goodness of God. He has so constructed 
our planet, as, by its spherical form and inclined 
position to the great central luminary, to occa- 
sion all the varieties of heat and cold, from the 
fervid glow of the tropics to the perpetual ice 
and snow of the polar regions. Winter displays 
God's power; its stormy winds, its raging tem- 
pests, its darkened skies, its gloomy and cheer- 
less nights, its rattling hail, its drifting snows, 
its ice-bound waters, its pinching colds, are but 
so many demonstrations of that Omnipotence, 

"Which reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year.*' 

Nor does winter less display God's wisdom by 
the succession of seasons; each one brings along 
with it its own peculiar provisions and gratifica- 
tions. Inferior creatures by instinct, and man 
by reason, are taught equally by the great Crea- 
tor and Benefactor to provide against the rigours 
and hardships of the wintry months, and the 
beauty and loveliness of the other seasons are 
enhanced by the gloom and cold which precede 



24 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

them. Winter too is the standing memorial of 
God's faithfulness; it is no less his appointment 
than the green verdure of spring, the sweet 
flowers of summer, and the rich fruitfulness of 
autumn. It is his snow that covers like a fleece 
of wool; it is his ice that is cast forth like mor- 
sels ; it is his cold, before which neither man 
nor beast can stand. It is he that saith to the 
snow, "Be thou on the earth;" and by the 
breath of God frost is given. While the earth 
standeth winter shall be one of the memorials of 
God's unbroken covenant. 

Nor is winter less the monument of God's 
goodness — it is the night of the year, in which 
the weary soil takes rest, and thereby prepares 
itself for the vegetative toils of the spring and 
summer. By the snow the earth is covered 
from the rigours of the wintry blast, and by the 
frost those innumerable insects are destroyed, 
which would eat up its varied productions. By 
the action of winter, both animal and vegetable 
life are invigorated and improved; while for all 
his creatures God provides, some by reason, 
some by instinct, comforts and accommodations 
calculated to meet the exigencies which press 
upon them. Truly we may say, "Thou crown- 
eth the year with thy goodness." But, 

2. Winter is a season of trial and privation 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 25 

to many. In polar regions it puts forth a 
rigour which often threatens their scanty and 
sluggish population with an extinction of exist- 
ence, and renders it next to impossible to search 
for their wonted provisions amidst mountains of 
snow and oceans of ice. If we would enhance 
our own comforts, and adore the goodness of 
God to those who dwell in these temperate 
climes, let us often think of the poor, skin-clad 
savage, in his snow-built hut, amidst continents 
of ice, shivering on the very confines of exist- 
ence. 

The aged, too, with whom the current of life 
runs slow, whose limbs are tottering and feeble, 
and who are but little able to exert themselves 
to keep up their animal warmth, often feel most 
keenly the rigours of winter. If they are Chris- 
tians, and know the blessings of communion 
with God, they will know how to bear the tedi- 
ous languor of this season; and if nothing but 
nature comes in to their aid, they will feel that 
it is gloomy and cheerless. To many such it is 
the harbinger of the stillness and coldness of 
that dreary mansion in which they must lie till 
they hear the sound of the last trumpet. How 
many, especially of the aged, have been called 
into eternity since the commencement of the 
present cold season ! Happy, thrice happy, 
3* 



26 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

they who have entered into the joy of their 
Lord; but, how sad the death of the aged 
sinner ! 

The poor in particular feel the pressures of 
winter. Many of them are shut out from their 
ordinary labours, and are thereby deprived of 
their usual means of support. Surrounded by 
numerous families, and destitute of proper food, 
clothing, and fuel, they are ready to exclaim, 
"Who can stand before His cold?" In many 
parts of our country, and more especially in our 
crowded cities, there are tens of thousands who 
rise up in the morning without knowing where 
they are to find their next meal. The poor, 
indeed, are always with us; but the severity of 
winter augments their number, and aggravates 
their privations. We could take you at this 
moment to the habitations of many of God's 
children, pleading his promise, and living on his 
faithfulness, who are straitened beyond expres- 
sion in their circumstances, and who are doomed 
to feel the pinchings of a scanty diet, a scantier 
wardrobe, and a cheerless dwelling. 

Winter is the season of social intercourse. 
This is one of its comforts as well as one of its 
temptations. Social intercourse, when properly 
regulated — that is, when put under the control 
of religious principle — is a great solace of exist- 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 27 

ence. The fellowship of kindred minds, more 
especially where true godliness is the bond of 
union, is an emblem of heaven itself. It is our 
duty to use hospitality without grudging, and 
always to endeavour to turn it to the best 
account. It is the height of selfishness, and 
argues but little for the social temperament of 
the gospel, where Christians are content to live 
in solitude, and are never drawn towards each 
other by the force of principle and the attrac- 
tion of holy love. 

I am not pleading for worldly parties among 
Christians — we have too many of them already ; 
but for those intercourses around the social 
board, which, when conducted in the spirit of 
piety, and terminated by acts of devotion, can- 
not fail to promote a spirit of love. The chil- 
dren of this world are, in their generation, in 
this respect, wiser than the children of light. 
They know how to call in the aid of the social 
principle to promote vanity and folly; and 
surely Christians should not lose that advantage 
to their profession, which arises from the sanc- 
tified intercourse of social life. A dozen res- 
pectable individuals in a Christian congregation 
might, at a comparatively small expenditure, 
organize a system of religious conference and 
social devotion through the whole community. 



28 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

As winter is the season most commonly devoted 
to social and friendly intercourse in general, 
let Christians take advantage of this prevailing 
habit, and turn it to some happy account for 
eternity; but let it never degenerate into a 
school for scandal, or into a source of increased 
worldly conformity. Let the social meetings of 
our winter evenings have a sweet savour of god- 
liness spread over them, and yet let them be so 
cheerful and happy, that the younger branches 
of our several circles may feel that there is 
nothing gloomy or repulsive in the spirit and 
fellowship of Christians. 

It is earnestly recommended that these meet- 
ings should commence at an early hour, and that 
the members of each family should be in their 
own habitation by ten o'clock, that no infringe- 
ment of the domestic order or domestic devotion 
may be the result of the intercourse proposed. 
If a minister of the gospel, or some gifted pri- 
vate Christian, can be associated with these 
meetings, to give a tone to the conversation, to 
expound in an engaging manner some portion 
of Scripture, and to lead the devotions of the 
friendly circle, it will greatly enhance their 
interest and their usefulness; but where this 
cannot be attained, let the head of each family 
be the priest in his own house. It is very 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 29 

desirable that this thought may not be lost sight 
of by any who have it in their power to exercise 
the rights of Christian hospitality. It will 
enlarge the sphere of their own benevolence, by 
ministering to the instruction and happiness of 
others. It is not a series of expensive enter- 
tainments that is recommended, but rather a 
succession of love-feasts, such as obtained among 
the early Christians, and which drew their 
hearts one towards another, and aided their 
triumph over the selfishness and carnality of 
the world. 

II. Contemplate winter as an emblem. All 
nature is full of beautiful and instructive analo- 
gies. Winter presents many such analogies. 
We may view it as an emblem of old age and 
death. The spring of promise has fled, the 
summer of bright suns has passed away, the 
autumn of withered hopes has arrived, and 
winter, dreary and cold, has followed in its turn, 
to complete the round of man's earthly career. 

"'Tis done! dread winter spreads his latest gloom, 
And reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year. 
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies, 
How dumb the tuneful ! Horror wide extends 
His desolate domain. Behold, fond man, 
See here thy pictured life, pass some few years, 
Thy flowering spring, thy summer's ardent strength, 
Thy sober autumn fading into age; 
And pale concluding winter comes at last, 
And shuts the scene." 



30 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

With some who may read this article, the 
spring of youth has passed, the summer of 
manhood has ended, and yellow autumn is fast 
whitening into the snows of winter. As they 
look around them on that death which now 
pervades all nature, and feel its chilling and 
paralyzing touch, let them not forget that the 
signs of their approaching winter are fast 
pressing onward. Those gray hairs, that decay 
of animal strength, that dimness which creeps 
over their vision, that sluggish pulse, that 
tottering step, that fading memory, all portend 
that their autumn is soon to close, and that 
the winter of death is about to fix them in 
all the icy coldness and insensibility of the 
grave. 

How then, fellow-pilgrim, have your seasons 
of life been spent? Did the spring time of 
your being send forth the sweet blossoms of 
early piety ? Did your summer of life see them 
advancing into maturity ? Is your autumn of life 
laden with fruits of righteousness? or are you 
compelled by a faithful retrospect of life to come 
to a far different conclusion? forget not that 
your autumn hours are fast fading, and what is 
done for eternity must be done quickly. If the 
winter of life seals up your faculties ere yet 
you begin to live to God, to you there will be 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 31 

no returning spring. Yours, alas ! will be a 
resurrection not to life, but to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt. 

Christian, your winter is coming, but a bright 
spring shall follow. That which is sown in dis- 
honour shall be raised in glory, and that which 
is sown a natural body shall be raised a spiritual 
body. You have nothing to apprehend from 
age or mortality. The graves of the saints are 
all perfumed by their dying Lord; and he who 
said to Lazarus "Come forth/' will speak to the 
earth, and to the seas, and cause them to deliver 
up as faithful stewards all who sleep in him. 

We must not omit here to observe, that as in 
the natural world the rigours of winter may 
obtrude themselves at times upon the loveliest 
seasons, and nip the fairest blossoms, or kill 
the sweetest flower, so in the life of man, his 
winter may come upon him at any season, from 
the opening bud of existence to the ripened 
maturity of old age. The smiling infant, the 
playful child, the ruddy boy, the vigorous youth, 
the full-grown man, no less than the tottering 
pilgrim of fourscore years, may be called to 
wither beneath the chilling blast of mortality. 
Watch, watch, then, for you know not when 
your Lord cometh ! 

Winter may be also viewed as an emblem of 



32 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

spiritual death or languor. what an appal- 
ling spectacle, if we had eyes to see it, is the 
winter of the soul ! No spiritual verdure, not a 
bud, not a leaf, not a blossom to be seen — all 
cold, and motionless, and dead, and ghastly, 
and forbidding. The death of nature is invol- 
untary, but spiritual death is the wilful sus- 
pension of all holy functions, and a depraved 
insensibility to every exercise and engagement 
suited to our immortal and accountable nature. 
what a winter spiritually pervades our once 
happy world! Behold the trees of the forest 
stript of their leaves ; see all nature prostrate in 
death, and in this cheerless spectacle contem- 
plate the true image of a soul stript of resem- 
blance to God, without holy principles and 
affections, a stranger to the meltings of peni- 
tence, the sighs of contrition, the fervours of 
devotion, the promptings of new obedience. 
that we could lead these victims of this sad 
death to sigh for the approach of moral spring! 
that it were with them the time of the sing- 
ing of birds! that we could see the ice- 
bound spirit yielding to the softening breezes 
of heaven! that we could discern the first 
tender buddings of spiritual life springing up in 
their wintry atmosphere ! Let them but reflect 
on the nature of that death which pervades 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 33 

their souls! They are dead to spiritual light 
and vision. There is a fair and beauteous 
prospect before them, but they have no eye to 
discern its forms of grace and excellence. They 
are dead to all spiritual affections of love, joy, 
peace, and holy desire. They are dead to all 
spiritual exercise of prayer, praise, and devout 
meditation. They are dead to God himself, 
the chief good, and have said within themselves, 
"jWe desire not the knowledge of his ways." 
They are dead to all well-grounded hope; the 
world is their portion, and they are hastening 
to the judgment-seat of Christ with the lie of a 
self-righteous and deceived spirit. that over 
millions of such ice-bound spirits the God of 
grace would breathe the balmy and refreshing 
air of a moral spring ! And are there not some 
"who, after having passed the winter of an unre- 
generate state and entered on the spring and 
summer of the new and heavenly life, have suf- 
fered a temporary decay of their spiritual graces ? 
It is surely not with them now as it was in 
months past, when the candle of the Lord shone 
round about them, and when the life of prayer 
and communion with God was their chief de- 
light. They have lost their first love. The 
enemy of souls has been sifting them as wheat. 
They have fallen from their steadfastness. 
4 



34 THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 

Their faith is weak, and is ready to die. There 
are the signs of approaching winter in their 
souls. " backsliding Israel, return unto him 
from whom thou hast departed." Cry for the 
quickening energies of the Holy Spirit. Shake 
off that spiritual lethargy which has crept over 
your faculties. Breathe after the return of a , 
moral spring. Look out for the early and latter 
rain. Repent, and do your first works. Fall 
down upon your knees and entreat God to 
restore unto you the joys of his salvation, and 
to uphold you with his free Spirit. Then may 
you hope to be richly laden with those fruits of 
righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, which 
are to the praise and glory of God. 

III. Contemplate winter as an incentive to 
benevolent actions. There is something in every 
season to teach us to imitate the never-failing 
bounty and goodness of our Father in heaven. 
Winter has its peculiar lessons, especially to those 
on whom God has bestowed more of this world's 
goods than is necessary for the supply of their 
own wants. By partially withholding from many 
of his creatures the supplies of other seasons, 
he teaches those in affluence to sympathize with 
the poor and necessitous; thus constituting them 
ministers of mercy to certain portions of their 
fellow-creatures. While our cup runneth over 



THOUGHTS ON WINTER. 35 

with the rich abundance of God's mercies, surely 
we cannot but think with tender pity of multi- 
tudes for whom nothing has been provided. 
Why is it so, that we have plenty and they are 
destitute of all things, but that the bounty of 
Heaven, which has flown so liberally into one 
channel, may find its way, by our own voluntary 
agency, into another. The whole amount of 
supply is God's, but he has seen fit to limit it to 
certain channels, that one class of his crea- 
tures may exercise sympathy and generosity, 
and another gratitude and becoming respect. 
Now if this supply, which is all from God, is 
consumed luxuriously, or hoarded selfishly, in- 
stead of being given forth like the bounty of the 
seasons, then will the gracious Parent of all call 
us to a dreadful reckoning for our unfaithful 
stewardship. 

This work of charity to the poor must not be 
left to ocasional impulse, or mere animal sym- 
pathy; it must take the place of a Christian 
grace, and be provided for with a strict fidelity, 
according to the means of doing good which 
God has conferred on us. As the Lord hath 
prospered every man, it becomes him to lay by 
in store for the necessitous poor, that he may do 
good to all, but more especially the household of 
faith. 



86 MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 

It is earnestly hoped that in this age of active 
benevolence it will not be forgotten by wealthy 
Christians, that " Blessed is he that considereth 
the poor." Let them seriously and prayerfully 
reflect, what pensioners we all are upon the 
Divine bounty, and let it be seen by the sympa- 
thy and kindness of their deportment, that they 
claim relation to Him, whose blessed distinction 
it was, that he went about doing good. 

In conclusion, let all, whether rich or poor, 
so spend their days on earth, that when the 
night of death shall come, they may pass into 
that land of pure delight, where their summers 
will last all the year, where winters and storms 
shall be no more, but December as pleasant as 
May. 



MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 

It is time to seek the Lord. — ITosea x. 12. 
For ye know neither the day nor the hour when the 
Son of Man cometh. — Matt xxv. 13. 

In the good providence of God we have again 
been permitted to witness the revolving seasons. 
Their gradual. and solemn succession was beauti- 
ful and instructive. They silently pushed each 
other along, till at length they were merged 



MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 87 

and entombed in that common rendezvous and 
resting place, the grave of the year. And now, 
at this moment, we find ourselves placed on the 
boundaries of two important periods of time. 
The year just closed, like its predecessors, has 
passed into eternity, bearing with it a faithful 
report of our sins, and mercies, and duties to 
the great Author of our being and Father of our 
spirits, before whose tribunal we must one day 
stand, not as idle spectators, as we have stood 
in earthly courts of judicatory, where man judges 
his offending fellow-man, but we ourselves must 
be judged, and that by the Judge of quick and 
dead, according to the deeds done in the body, 
whether they be good or bad; for He hath ap- 
pointed a day when he will judge the world in 
righteousness. He hath said, and he will bring 
it to pass, that we must all appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ. And were we to look 
at things around us in a true light, we should 
regard closing Sabbaths, and departing years, 
and clving mortals, as all harmonizing with the 

%J O / O 

sterner voice of Scripture, and that solemn and 

seasonable, and merciful admontion, " Prepare 

to meet thy God." 

With the departing year this admonition comes 

to us afresh. To some it comes, who through 

the grace of God are prepared, and to many 
4* 



38 MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 

who are not, and, moreover, to not a few it comes 
for the last time. solemn thought! Many 
in hailing the new-born year, whether in the 
giddy dance, or sacred song, whether in the 
house of mirth, or house of prayer, are hailing, 
though unconsciously, the harbinger of their dis- 
solution, and shall never, never hail again a 
new-born year. And my dear reader, very pos- 
sibly you and I may be of the devoted number 
of those who shall die this year, for, 

"Like crowded forest trees we stand, 
And some are marked to fall." 

Then let it be our fervent prayer, blessed 
Lord, "so teach us to number our days that we 
may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 

The warning voice of the season comes to 
those who are ready. Such may be said to be 
in waiting for the coming of their Lord, whose 
welcome voice shall ere long salute their willing 
ears saying, "Come up hither." Then, having 
obeyed the glad summons, and having done with 
earth, and time, and death, and sin, they shall 
enter into rest, and be for ever with the Lord. 
Let then the only rightful expectants of such 
bliss, true Christians, regard the present season 
as a fresh memento of their fast concluding pro- 
bation, and their approaching departure to their 



MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 39 

heavenly home. Let it induce deep and serious 
thought, close examination, and fervent prayer. 
Let it lead to a fuller surrender of the heart to 
God, than which nothing is more wanting. Let 
it, we say, lead to a fuller surrender of the heart 
to God, to more entire devotedness, to weaned- 
ness from the world, to greater spirituality of 
mind, to livelier and stronger faith, to holiness ; 
in a word, to a nearer approximation of charac- 
ter to the blessed Saviour's, and to renewed zeal 
and effort and enterprise in advancing his cause 
and kingdom. Thus, Christian, may the 
dawn of a new year arouse thee to press onward 
in thy heavenly course, -doing the work and will 
of God, till in his righteous providence that will 
be accomplished, thy work done, and thy soul at 
rest. 

The warning voice of the season comes to 
those who are not ready. Not ready! How 
discordant and infelicitous the expression, but 
how doubly so the idea or import ! Not ready ! 
What unhappiness does such a position involve 
in worldly things. Apply it to a voyage, a 
journey, or even some pecuniary engagement. 
Suppose the passage taken, the vessel under 
weigh — and the passenger ashore. But we need 
not follow out the comparison in all its bearings 
to see the folly and unhappiness of being not 



40 MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 

ready. And if it be thus in things temporal, 
what in things spiritual? — if so in time, what in 
eternity ? Say what must it be to die, and not 
be ready — to be summoned to the tribunal of 
God unprepared. Why, it is to be lost — to 
perish — and that eternally ! for then grace and 
mercy will be clean gone for ever; and a great 
ransom cannot deliver us. How good then, and 
gracious of Almighty God to admonish us by 
his word, and encourage us by his gospel, as 
well as call to us by another departed and 
unimproved year, to be also ready, seeing that 
we know not how soon death may come ! Then, 
my dear reader, lay this matter to heart, I be- 
seech you. that you were wise to know this, 
and consider your latter end! Be thankful that 
you are still in time, that you are favoured with 
the means of grace, that all things are now 
ready, and that the blessed Saviour invites you 
to approach him, assuring you that whosoever 
cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out. 
Then this year be persuaded to hearken to his 
gospel; follow the instructions of his word; 
bow at his footstool; cast your helpless, guilty 
soul upon Christ; and cherish in your mind the 
fact that he will receive and save you. Thus 
have we set before you life and death, blessing 
and cursing. Choose ye then, this year — yea, 



MONITORY VOICE OF THE SEASON. 41 

this day, whom ye will serve ; as for me, I will 
serve the Lord. 

The warning voice of the season comes to 
some for the last time. Such it addresses as 
did the midnight cry the virgins — Behold, the 
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him! 
might we all hear and regard it in this sense, 
seeing that many of us shall hear it no more ! 
Then, Christian, seek to have thy lamp trimmed 
and burning. Mount the watch-tower of faith, 
and prayer, and holy expectation, for soon — this 
very year it may be — the Master will come, 
and call for thee, and thou shalt enter into the 
joy of thy Lord. And 0, nominal Christian, 
unrenewed person, though thou mayest have 
the form of godliness, and bear the lamp of pro- 
fession — whose heart is yet unchanged, whose 
sins are unpardoned, and who of necessity must 
be pronounced a foolish virgin, take heed, lest in 
the end — thy fast approaching end — take heed 
lest, dying in thy present state, thou be classed, 
and doomed, and condemned with such. wilt 
thou not hearken to this final midnight cry? 
Delay not, lest when thou criest for mercy in a 
dying hour, the door be shut, and the Lord 
answer, "Depart from me, I know you not." 
Finally, sinner, hear the voice of the Saviour; 
repent, and be converted; watch and pray; 



42 DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 

watch and hearken while the cry is yet in thine 
ears, for thou knowest neither the day nor the 
hour wherein the Son of Man coraeth. The 
present is God's time, and may it be yours, to 
seek and secure the salvation of your soul. It 
is time to seek the Lord. 



DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 

Last night, at twelve o'clock, expired a friend, 
of whom, take him all in all, perhaps I shall 
never see his like again. As I stood by and 
saw his last moments, I exclaimed, " How our 
blessings brighten as they take their flight!" 
For now came rushing upon my memory all the 
good qualities of the deceased, and all the advan- 
tages I derived from his company. Ah ! he was 
indeed a fast and steady friend to his latest 
breath; he stood by me, and never ceased to do 
me good. I have seen many changes in the 
affections of men; they have been mere swal- 
lows, the birds of summer; but summer and 
winter, by night and by day, he was a true and 
faithful friend. Every time I retired to rest at 
night he gave me a parting word of advice in 
case I should never see him again; and each 



DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 43 

morning, as I opened my eyes, I saw him by 
my bedside, inviting me to accept his renewed 
aid to live for God. How many pleasures I 
have enjoyed in his company ! — to count them 
would be to number the grains of sand which 
bound the ocean ; to compass the detail into this 
article would be to take up the waters of the 
sea in the hollow of my hands. Two things, 
however, I must notice — the first is, that for 
three hundred and sixty-five days he introduced 
me more than once a day to a closet-audience 
with the King of kings; and although I must 
own to you, that in His Majesty's presence I was 
so delighted that I forgot the departure of my 
friend, he never upbraided me with it, but 
seemed better pleased with me for it all the day. 
The other tribute of gratitude which I must pay 
to the memory of my friend, is to acknowledge 
that two-and-fifty times in his life he proposed 
to me to spend the day in pleasure; to imitate 
the life of angels, and begin heaven without 
waiting for dismission from earth. And 0, 

"How pleased and blest was I, 

To hear the joyful cry, 
Come, let us seek our Gk>d to-day.' 5 

To how many profitable discourses have I lis- 
tened on these days, and almost reproached my 



44 DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 

friend for bringing them to a close. Shall I 
ever see the friend with whom I shall enjoy 
again such happy days? But, as I have a Friend 
dearer to me even than the late deceased, whose 
elegy I now write with tears, this renders him 
doubly precious to my plaintive memory, that he 
was ever forward to give me opportunities to 
serve the Lord who bought me with his blood. 
He would often tell me this was all he came for, 
and was never better pleased than when I 
treated him as if he were good for nothing but 
to help me to work for God. Ah, how often has 
he roused me when drowsy, and jogged my 
elbows when lazy in this cause ! Now his lips 
are sealed up in silence, and I hang over his 
cold corpse. I seem to hear his voice, louder 
than before, when he used to cry, "Awake, 
sluggard! was I only sent to see thee sleep?" 
Thus roused by his repeated faithful warnings, 
I have enjoyed the felicity of at least attempt- 
ing to do something for Him who has done and 
suffered all for me. And this, to tell the truth, 
(without fearing a frown from the angry shade 
of my departed friend,) is the most pleasant 
reflection on the review of our past friendship. 

"Millions of ages hence," the dear deceased 
used to say, "you may be the better for my 



DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 45 

company, and according as you treat me well or 
ill, your very heaven may taste of it." 

Who, then, of all those who shall read this 
obituary, will not sympathize with me in the loss 
of such a friend, or refuse to indulge me in the 
eulogium which we love to pass on those whom 
death has torn from our fond embrace — espe- 
cially as I could hint that he was no very distant 
friend of theirs neither. 0, join with me in 
blessing Him whose years know no end! for the 
Lord gave, if the Lord hath taken away. Yes, 
I gratefully adore Him that said, " Spare him 
yet another year!" But I am afraid those who 
have hitherto sympathized with me in my irre- 
parable loss will now startle with horror, when I 
disburden my oppressed conscience, and confess 
to you that I have been, in a great degree, the 
murderer of the deceased. What! murder such 
a friend as you have described? What a 
wretch! I confess it all, and admit the black- 
ness of my guilt; for I am too much my own 
accuser to palliate my crime; though, if I were 
disposed, I could silence the loudest voice by 
saying, He that is without sin among you, let 
him cast the first stone. But such recrimination 
ill suits the feelings of my heart. 'Tis true, I 
never, with malice prepense, as the lawyers 
speak, openly said, like some, Let us play to kill 
5 



46 DEPARTURE OF THE OLD YEAR. 

Time; for he must be a murderer in grain who 
would, in cold blood, kill so good a friend as 
Time. But then, by repeated slights and inju- 
ries, we may murder a man by inches, so that 
he may at last die of a broken heart. I fear I 
am verily guilty of the blood of the deceased.. 
Ah, how often he reproached me for my treat- 
ment of him, and told me I should repent of it 
when it was too late, and he was gone for ever ! 
Surely he possessed a prophetic spirit, for I feel 
the truth of his words thrill through my afflicted 
soul. And of how much murdered time and 
abused talent may one year accuse us before the 
bar of God? Thou whose blood cleanseth 
from all sin, blot out this my guilt, and let this 
solemn returning period of time be at least im- 
proved to renew my application to that atone- 
ment which 

"In the gospel now appears, 
Pardoning the guilt of numerous years." 

And since I may never have another, for this 
year I may die, so teach me to number my days 
as to apply my heart unto wisdom. 



AN INTERESTING MOMENT, 47 



MEDITATION OF AN INTERESTING 
MOMENT. 

The moment of transition from the old to the 
new year is intensely solemn and full of interest. 
What shall I call it — December 31st? or shall 
I call it January 1st? The clock strikes twelve ; 
the bells with sudden peal ring out the old year, 
and usher in the new. While reviewing the 
different periods of my life, as they turn upon 
their own hinges, I involuntarily exclaim, "Thus 
passes Time ! — thus Eternity advances !" I feel 
myself at this moment as on the isthmus, where, 
standing between both, I contrast eternity, on 
which I am entering, with time, when it is de- 
creed to last no longer. Time then appears as 
a glass, which has poured forth its rapid stream, 
and now stops exhausted. Eternity presents an 
ocean of infinite expanse which knows no shore 
nor ebb. 

In time, I see the abode of vanity and of 
change, the passing creatures of a moment. 
There all things are born but to die; appear, 
only to vanish. Brass corrodes, marble crum- 
bles, and the whole scene passes as the pano- 
ramic figures on the canvass; but eternity I 



48 THE MEDITATION OF 

confess the residence of durability, the dwelling- 
place of Him who is, and who was, and who is 
to come, the great I AM. Around his throne, 
or crushed beneath his feet, are myriads of 
beings who know no change, but feel their 
doom for ever sealed. Through all the shifting 
scenes of time I contemplate crowds of proba- 
tioners — some wishing, others dreading, and all 
expecting to change their fortunes. I see the 
stamp and colour of unknown ages depending on 
the moment which is now upon the wing. In 
one spot I observe a few who feel the awful 
ground on which they stand, and, anticipating 
the infinite consequences of this truth, bear on 
their countenances a serious impression; but on 
every other side nothing is seen but a drunk- 
en oblivion, which swallows in the immediate 
draught all thoughts of the impending future. 

How different eternity ! There nothing hangs 
in doubtful suspense — each knows his doom. 
Religion no longer trembles with anxious fears, 
nor guilt tastes any more delusive hopes. All 
are occupied in gathering what they have sowed. 
In heaven they recall their former faith and 
hope, joys and sorrows, prayers and hymns, and 
now taste the sweet fruits of grace exercised in 
long past ages. In hell they feel again stings 
which they thought blunted, and are haunted 



AN INTERESTING MOMENT. 49 

with recollections for which they hoped to have 
found Lethean draughts. Time, though such 
an evanescent drop, has dashed with gall of 
bitterness the cup which eternity shall not 
exhaust. 

Time, as it flies, seems to recall the pleasure 
it brings, and says to the righteous, Ye must 
only taste of the brook by the way — I am bear- 
ing you on my wings to that fountain whence 
you may drink immortal draughts of never- 
failing bliss. With equal force it says to the 
holy sufferer, Each pang diminishes the tale ; 
and every throb becomes more tolerable, as it 
announces the approach of exemption and ease. 
It is eternity which makes pleasure pleasure 
indeed, for no bitter expectation of reverse 
harasses the mind; but the thought that an 
unalterable futurity of bliss is all my own, gives 
the exquisite taste of eternity to every sensation 
of delight. But in the stagnant lake of endless 
wo, an unknown aggravation is thrown into each 
pang, from the consideration — This must last 
for ever— an eternal toothache only would be a 
hell. 

Will time thus deeply affect eternity, and 
should not eternity influence time? It is this 
which gives importance to my character, and 
imparts intensity to all my actions. I must live 



50 THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 

for ever in heaven or in hell; and as I live, so I 
must die; and as I die, so I must appear in 
judgment; and as I appear there, so I must 
continue throughout all eternity. Let me now, 
in the accepted time, believe in Him who will 
freely bestow on me eternal life. Let me begin 
this year with the resolution of President Ed- 
wards, so worthy of his exalted and pious mind : 
"Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to 
be most to God's glory and my own good profit 
and pleasure, without any consideration of the 
time — whether now, or ever so many millions of 
ages to come." 



THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 

Another year is gone ! another year is come ! 
It is nearly impossible to utter these exclama- 
tions with indifference. The divisions of our 
time are meant to have a moral as well as a 
secular use. While they regulate our worldly 
occupations, they are designed to convey us a 
still richer benefit by fostering reflections and 
inducing us to anticipate futurity. Standing on 
the boundaries of two great periods of time, man 
seems placed in circumstances only less affect- 



THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 51 

ing than that of the angel in the Apocalypse, 
who, with either foot on the divided elements of 
land and water, lifted up his hand to heaven, 
and sware by Him that liveth for ever that 
time should be no longer. 

Another year is gone ! How swift, how impre- 
ceptible is the flight of time? Moralists have 
compared its course to that of a stream, a 
shuttle, or an arrow; but they are not an ade- 
quate illustration. I can sit down by the glid- 
ing waters and mark their passage to the ocean. 
I can detect the movement of the shuttle as it 
flies from hand to hand in the loom; and I can 
track the fleetest arrow as it cleaves its way 
through the pathless heaven. Time in its flight 
I cannot see, I cannot detect. I watch for its 
coming, I would mark its departure, but it is 
too noiseless and subtile in its course for me to 
realize the one or the other. I can neither say 
it is here, nor it is gone; for time moves so 
much quicker than my words, as to falsify my 
declarations: and the traveller on his way, with 
the sun over his head and its shadows at his 
feet, if he would verify the lapse of time, must 
still ask of his companion the hour of the day. 
It is this that spreads around us so much 
illusion. Time is always forsaking us, yet seems 
always the same ; to-morrow is so like to-day, 



52 THE OLD AXD THE £JBW YEAR. 

that we are willingly beguiled into a belief of 
its identity. Hence are we perpetually running 
into erroneous calculations. We have grey 
hairs on our forehead, and we know it net. 
Our hopes are green and florid when our root i3 
withered and corrupting. We cannot believe 
that we have numbered so many years as have 
gone over us, and are repeatedly inquiring, 
Can they be so many ? Can we be so old ? 
Childhood is surprised into youth; youth is sur- 
prised into manhood : manhood is surprised into 
age; and age, full of the dreams of life, is sur- 
prised into the grave. So it was with our 
fathers — so it is with us: and those who have 
died early have been so few as only to form an 
exception to the rule, and they have been made 
an exception only by the wisdom which cometh 
down from above. 

Another year is gone ! Titus once exclaimed, 
"I have lost a day!" How many listening to 
the monitions of conscience have reason to say, 
I have lost a year! To what purpose have they 
lived? Whom have they blessed by their ex- 
istence? What good have they done? What 
evil have they shunned? What homage have 
they paid to the great Creator? What trust 
have they reposed in the only Redeemer ? What 
regard have they shown to that celestial voice 



THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 53 

which is calling them away from sense, and 
vanity, and sin, to glory, honour, and immor- 
tality? What unhappiness and guilt must be 
mingled with their reflections ! They have 
lost a year! What pleasures they must have 
missed, what privileges they have neglected, what 
mercies they have abused, what sin they have 
accumulated ! Many during that period have 
lost their health, their property, and dearest 
and nearest friends, but they are not so wretch- 
ed as the man who feels that he has lost the 
year. Other losses may be retrieved — this can- 
not. In it there is henceforth no place left for 
repentance, no space to act again "what has 
been performed so much amiss. What has been 
done is done; what has been omitted is omitted. 
Its report is complete, its record is sealed. It 
is gone, and as it left us, how it frowned like a 
spectre on the guilty, and said, "I meet you 
again in judgment." 

There are some as guilty of this abuse of past 
time "who are not yet so uneasy. They have de- 
termined to banish reflection and not to distress 
themselves by inquiry. They refuse to muse on 
the past, or to forebode the future. The pre- 
sent time is their eternity. Jest dwells on their 
tongue, levity flutters in their eye, and laughter 
plays on their cheek. They are awake only to 



54 THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 

animal indulgences, and they are resolved on 
their fullest gratification. To what shall they 
be likened? 

I read of a youthful party, not long since, 
who went on an excursion upon the beautiful 

and romantic river C . The heavens were 

fair and bright above them, and the waters 
shone like a brilliant and expanded mirror 
around them. Merriment, frolic, and song were 
theirs; the eye, the ear, the heart were intoxi- 
cated with worldly joy. In the fulness of their 
pleasure they had forgotten to guide their vessel 
into a course of safety, and in an instant they 
found themselves borne away by an irresistible 
current towards a tremendous fall. They saw 
their danger, felt it inevitable. Now they 
shrieked in agony. Now they pressed their 
hands on their eyes, and sightless and speech- 
less awaited the event. They fell, they rose no 
more! Such is the state of those who, borne 
down the stream of time towards an awful 
eternity, amuse themselves with present plea- 
sure, and refuse to inquire about their destiny 
raid the means of their salvation till salvation 
is impossible ; only they are carried away by a 
more impetuous torrent, shoot into a deeper 
gulf, *and are precipitated to a death more last- 
ing, more awful, and more profound. 



THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 55 

Another year is come ! Shall we trifle any- 
longer? Shall this year, invaluable as it is, be 
in our hands as a price in the hands of a fool? 
Shall it be consumed by ennui, squandered on 
selfish indulgences, or exchanged for lying vani- 
ties? We seek to be happy, but we are often 
decoyed from the path to happiness by the 
blandishments of pleasure. To be happy we 
must be serious. To be happy we must respect 
our whole existence; we must regard to-morrow 
as well as to-day, eternity as well as time. We 
must live not to ourselves, but to others ; nor 
merely to others, but to God. The mind must 
have great and appropriate objects before it, 
and the heart must be enlarged by great and 
benevolent sentiments. The passing year, evan- 
escent as it seems, would then be linked to eter- 
nity, and would live for ever. Life would lose 
the tedium which arises from its being directed 
to no object, or the disgust which springs from 
embracing only those objects which are frivol- 
ous. The soul would be elevated to a conscious 
alliance with heavenly things; the occupations 
of earth would derive interest and importance 
from their connection with the will of God and 
an advancing immortality; and all the ardour 
and the energy of which we find ourselves the 
subjects, would find an ample field for their 



56 THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 

ceaseless exercise in the pursuit and possession 
of an inheritance whose boundaries we may 
ever explore, but can never define, whose 
treasures we may ever enjoy, but can never 
exhaust. 

Another year is come ! ! is not this a time 
to turn to the Lord? Spared when we deserved 
it not — entrusted with another portion of time, 
though we have so little understood its value — 
shall we not esteem it at once a treasure and a 
trust? And shall we not expend it to the 
honour of Him who rather lends it to us than 
gives it? Shall we not consider our ways and 
acknowledge our trespasses, with penitence 
towards God and faith in the Redeemer? Shall 
we not inquire what, in ourselves, in our connec- 
tions, in the Church, and in the world, we can 
do to mitigate the wrongs we have done, and to 
express our gratitude for the mercy we have 
received? Shall we not at length be taught to 
seek our happiness in the joy of others, our 
honour in the service of the Saviour, and our 
life in the world to come? Is it too soon to be 
wise, too soon to be happy, too soon to awake 
from a base and dormant existence into the life 
of angels and of God? One year has left us 
and recorded its testimony in the skies. An- 
other year is given to us, in pity to our follies 



THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 57 

and our crimes. ! is not this a time for hum- 
ble prayer, holy resolutions, and heavenly aspi- 
rations? Can any period be so suitably the 
birthday of the soul — our spiritual jubilee — the 
year of a blessed and everlasting redemption? 

Another year is come ! and this may be our 
last ! This is probable to us, and it is certain 
to many — to an almost incredible number. It 
is no exaggeration to say that twenty millions 
of mankind will die before the expiration of this 
year. And if so vast a number will certainly 
be removed into eternity, what presumption, 
what madness would it be, to determine that it 
does not include us? Yes, this year we may 
die! What do we say? Man is but the crea- 
ture of a day, and shall he presume even on a 
year? Many, many shall die while the year 
is yet young, and few of its days are num- 
bered. Now, while you are reading, thinking, 
perhaps hesitating, your fellow-beings are groan- 
ing, expiring, and passing to an awful and final 
judgment. 0, how we stand on the very con- 
fines of eternity ! How thin the veil which 
separates our vision from the glories above us — 
the horrors beneath us ! A moment, and we 
may ascend to heaven, or sink to hell ! 

Another year is come ! Let the Christian 
meet it with hope. Hope will foster prayer, 
6 



58 THE OLD AND THE NEW YEAR. 

stimulate to activity, and exalt the mind from 
the seen to the unseen — carry it out from the 
present to the future, and to the Christian all 
things are full of hope. The opening year may 
bring affliction, but it will also bring support; it 
may bring wants, but it shall bring supplies; it 
may bring duties, but it will bring strength and 
grace to perform them. He may be cast down 
— he cannot be destroyed; he may be perse- 
cuted — he cannot be forsaken; he may be sor- 
rowful — he shall rejoice for evermore. Nothing 
can alarm him, nothing disappoint him, nothing 
impoverish him. Consume the earth by un- 
quenchable fire, he loses nothing, suffers nothing. 
If he live, he lives to the Lord, and that is the 
height of happiness on earth; if he die, he is 
present with the Lord, and that is the consum- 
mation of bliss in heaven. Happy Christian! 
to remain here is hope; to depart for ever is 
more abundant hope. The years of thy life are 
all blessed; the year of thy death supremely 
blessed. When thou shalt cease to exist thou 
shalt begin to live, and live for ever. The 
period of thy dissolution is the date of thy im- 
mortality — the day of thy emancipation, thy 
nuptials, thy coronation. It shall soon come, 
and till it come, thou art in a gracious state of 
preparation for its arrival. Already the lights 



THE NEW YEAR. 59 

of heaven and eternity are irradiating thy path. 
A little "while, and care, crime, death, all that 
is earthly and perishable, shall be to you as 
though they had never been. A little while, 
and thou shalt awake to glory such as no eye 
hath seen ; to converse such as ear hath not 
heard; to joys such as no heart hath conceived; 
to a blessing as lasting as it is full, and as fresh 
as it is abiding. 

"Yes, the bright day shall soon arise, 
That bids us welcome to the skies. 
No more by earthly ties confined, 
Hope her sought liberty shall find; 
Spread her glad wings and take her flight 
To worlds of everlasting light." 



THE NEW YEAR. 

What is a year? — a portion of time. And what 
is time? It is not a mere abstraction, but is 
marked by striking and visible characteristics. 
It had its beginning, and will have its termina- 
tion ; and in its progress it has its minutes and 
more extensive revolutions — its hours, its days, 
its months, its years, its epochs, its eras, its 
centuries. It has also its histories written in 
the annals of heaven and in the records of earth. 



60 THE NEW YEAR. 

It is known fully and completely to God alone; 
partially and obscurely to man. It has been 
called a parenthesis in eternity— 

"A moment fixed for ever there." 
It is a continued and unbroken series of 
causes and effects from a commencement on- 
ward to a close. Time was appointed by the 
eternal Creator and Governor of the universe 
to be subservient to the development and mani- 
festation of a stupendous and glorious plan 
of moral government. Time was to include the 
periods, and earth was selected to be the scene 
of the successive exhibitions of the parts of this 
great drama, which was to begin and is to close 
with the collective history of time and all terres- 
trial things. In this great development man 
was chosen as the moral and accountable agent, 
the instrument of the divine Creator's will. The 
earth was prepared as the theatre of moral 
action, and the sphere of providential operation, 
for the purpose of drawing from the fall the 
guilt, the misery of man — a mystery of wisdom, 
of grace, and of glory, the unfolding of which 
should excite admiration, and form matter of 
praise among superior intelligences, and the 
redeemed and immortal sons and daughters of 
Adam through a coming eternity. Subordinate 
to this, and in perfect harmony with it, God has 
ordained a certain economy of life, which be- 



THE NEW YEAR. 61 

longs exclusively to earth and time, so that 
while the heir of eternity is working out his 
individual destination, he is likewise working out 
the good of society and the well-being of the 
species, as the creatures of earth and time. 

Man is brought under the empire of time to 
be prepared for eternity, and therefore through 
the medium of the Holy Scriptures, the evan- 
gelical ministry, and the appliances of the sanc- 
tuary and the Sabbath, he is to pursue this as 
the first and the last end of his existence in 
time. Here he is to learn to know, love, and 
obey God as his Father, his Redeemer, and his 
Sanctifier; and therefore he must read, he must 
study, he must prayerfully study the sacred ora- 
cles, and attend to the solemn observance of 
every institution that is designed to explain and 
enforce them. He must learn now in time that 
he is fallen, that he is restored ; and his mental 
and moral faculties must be raised to God by 
all the instrumentalities which time can supply. 
He is placed in the most favourable position, in 
which he may contemplate the most glorious 
scenes, and attain the most glorious objects. 
Here breaks upon him the idea of God, which 
transforms into its own likeness the mind that 
receives it, which grows in effulgence by having 
transferred upon it new perceptions of beauty 
6* 



62 THE NEW YEAR. 

and holiness, attracting to itself as a centre 
whatever bears the impress of dignity or of 
goodness; which borrows splendour from all 
that is fair, subordinates to itself all, that is 
great, and sits enthroned on the riches of the 
universe. Here the sinner and the rebel is 
reminded how an adequate foundation has been 
laid for the supernatural duties of faith and 
repentance. The objects of the one are exhibit- 
ed, motives to the other are supplied; while 
repentance towards God and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ are set forth also as the bestow- 
ments of infinite grace. Here he is brought in 
contact with a system which inculcates universal 
holiness, and which, cordially embraced, inspires 
the love of that eternal rectitude which will sur- 
vive all sublunary changes, emerge from the 
dissolution of all things, and be impressed in 
effulgent characters on the new heaven and the 
new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness. 

Whatever intellectual acquirements, and what- 
ever principles form the human character, time 
developes them in the various relations of life, 
and in the voluntary and actual operations of 
the moral and accountable being. Whether we 
are impressed with the awful importance of our 
condition as the sojourners upon earth for a 
season, and apply our hearts unto wisdom, to 



THE NEW YEAR. 63 

those duties which arise out of our relation to 
God and to each other — or whether we suffer 
our intellect to be debased by ignorance, and 
our hearts to put forth their depravity in actions 
which shall go before to accuse and condemn us 
on the day of judgment, time is opening before 
us those various developments. Here we are 
transient subjects of its empire; but that flood 
is silently bearing us away, and we shall soon 
find ourselves in other regions, where time can- 
not follow us, where the character formed in 
time is indelible, and its consequences certain 
and eternal. There is something exceedingly 
impressive in this thought, that embraces at 
once immutability and eternity. Apply to man, 
to his weal or woe, to his happiness or misery, 
and what an intense interest does it create in 
our hearts. It will soon be realized by us; we 
shall know, ere long, far more vividly than any 
imagination can conceive, the human interests 
involved in the economy of time. How indis- 
pensable then does it become, that we should 
obtain some just notions of the relations of 
human life to time, and to those human interests 
which it involves ; and especially is it incumbent 
upon us to realize these notions at the com- 
mence of a new year. 

The first idea which strikes us as we approach 



64 THE NEW YEAR. 

these relations, is that of brevity. "What is its 
extreme limit? — three-score years and ten — 
years that are moments. How many of these 
years do men really live as rational, reflecting, 
and acting moral agents? But what is the 
average amount of human life? The average 
amount of human life has been, with a good 
degree of accuracy, supposed to be thirty-three 
years. One generation of the human race, 
therefore, or about nine hundred millions, leave 
this world and enter eternity within this period. 
Thirty millions, of course, die in a single year — 
are summoned to the judgment, and enter upon 
the recompense of reward. Few, perhaps, under 
the age of thirty, will allow themselves for a 
moment to think that that will be the limit of 
their earthly existence; and all who have passed 
that period will be presuming upon their four- 
score years. Yet even should their presump- 
tion be realized, the question again recurs, What 
is your life? There is the blank of infancy — 
deduct that from the sum. There is the death 
of sleep (and this is hardly a figure) ; and there 
is the sleep of indolence, that frequently steals 
over us; there are the menial services of the 
body, and a variety of indispensable employ- 
ments that seem to be a suspension of the intel- 
lectual and moral life. Deduct all these, and 



THE NEW YEAR. 65 

reduce life to the period of its real vitality; 
when it is able to put forth, with vigour, the 
power of thought and action — and what have 
you left? A hand's-breadth. And deduct from 
it then the days of darkness, of decrepitude — 
the living death of extreme old age — how long, 
then, is the longest life? Nay, in this view, 
how brief the period that intervenes between the 
cradle and the grave? And were all these years 
unimpaired and perfect, in which thought and 
action were vigorous to the last — compare these 
with the knowledge which man has to acquire, 
the duties he has to discharge, and the glorious 
destiny he has to win, what would be the full 
measure of his life if stretched out to its remotest 
period, when weighed in the balance of eternity, 
and compared with these mighty interests of his 
soul's well-being, which can be secured only in ( 
time? 

But there is another view of the relations of 
human life to the economy of time, and that is 
the rapidity of its progress. Time travels on 
with an uninterrupted, inexorable step. How- 
ever long our movements may stop, however still 
our work may stand, our restless hours pursue 
their course ; moment presses upon moment, day 
treads upon day; not a particle of our sand 
makes the smallest pause. The awful now 



66 THE NEW YEAR. 

asks us but once to embrace it; then turns 
its back on us, and our hands are stretched 
out after it in vain. Time flies ; aye, who can 
describe the astonishing rapidity of its move- 
ments. We may, however, place it in a ma- 
thematical light. The sun is stationary in 
the heavens; the earth moves around it at the 
amazing rate of about fifty thousand miles an 
hour. Now this is literally the flight of time, 
the speed of human life ! 

Suppose you were to be placed in a vehicle, 
and told that you should live only till it had 
moved round a certain space so many times — 
you would at once feel that in this condition the 
length of your life depended not so much on the 
space the vehicle had to go over, as on the 
rapidity with which it moved. The faster it 
• went over the allotted space, the sooner your 
life would end. And, 0, if you loved life, if 
you dreaded death, how much would you grudge 
every inch of ground you passed over? You 
would deem the slowest pace of the vehicle too 
fast. Or if, during your progress, you were 
aroused to a sense of having lived, so far as 
concerned those interests for which life was 
given, totally in vain, how would your alarm 
and terror keep pace with the rapid movement 
that was bearing you away ! 



THE NEW YEAR. 67 

Now this is substantially true. The earth on 
which you live is the vehicle; and you are 
assured, that when it has carried you around 
the sun a certain number times, your life shall 
end. Do you not then feel anxious to know the 
rate at which you are running in this journey of 
life? And when you are told that you are 
accomplishing it at the rate of so many miles 
an hour, may you not exclaim, with the prophet, 
"My days are swifter than a courier; they flee 
away"? You can actually calculate the ground 
you have gone over. Multiply the rate at w T hich 
the earth travels annually by the number of 
years you have lived, and you will see how far you 
have already travelled, and find that, whether 
you have been sleeping or waking, thoughtful or 
inconsiderate, you have been always rushing 
towards the goal of life, drawing nearer to it by 
thousands of miles every hour; so that however 
vast the space you had to travel over at first, 
it is daily, hourly diminishing, at a rate which 
will soon bring you to your journey's end. 

Uncertainty is another characteristic of the 
relation of human life to time, and the human 
interests which it involves. See how suddenly 
death may arrest you, and drag you from your 
vehicle at the moment when perhaps you were 
dreaming of happy years, and accumulating a 



68 THE NEW YEAR. 

fortune, with troops of friends, and distinctions 
of honour. The fact is, whatever human inter- 
ests are comprehended in the empire of time, 
and which human life is to secure, there is but 
one clear, certain moment in which they can 
be pursued; and that is the present moment. 
There is indeed certainty in the past; but that 
is gone — it will never be recalled. Already it 
has sent up its account to be registered, in order 
to be produced at the day of final judgment. 

This should remind us of another character- 
istic of the relation of human life to time; and 
that is, probation. When we contrast the facul- 
ties of man, his high capacity of reason, and his 
religious instincts; when we contrast all this 
with the debasing influence of the world, and 
the vanity and brevity of life, we are assured 
that the present is not a final state. When we 
consider, too, the struggles piety has to main- 
tain against the antagonism of unbelief and sin ; 
when we perceive the latter often triumph; 
when vice prospers before our eyes, and virtue 
is driven in poverty to weep in secret; when all 
moral elements are confounded, and we behold 
disorder all around, which no providence inter- 
feres to rectify, and no retribution visits with 
well-deserved punishment; and the passive vir- 
tues and active energies of the good are severely 



THE NEW YEAR, 69 

'tried and perpetually counteracted, and evil is 
■ stirred up from the very depth of depravity, 
and pours forth its acrimonious and polluting 
streams over the face of society; when, in one 
word, moral good and evil are seen to be just 
placed in circumstances to draw forth the 
] strongest manifestations of their opposing cha- 
racters, but are not followed by their due 
; rewards and punishments — the conclusion is 
inevitable, that the present state is not final; 
lit is probationary; it is the seed-time, of which 
; immortality will reap the harvest; it is a soil 
: bearing evil and good, and both may be sown; 
land whatever is sown shall yield its proper 
ifruit, but not while winter lasts. The probation 
continues only while the soil is cultivating, and 
the seed is growing, until it is proved of what 
sort it is. Here he that sows to the flesh in 
another state, shall reap corruption in the same 
manner; he that soweth to the Spirit, shall reap 
life everlasting. Just as the individual regards 
the human interests which the economy of 
time involves, will be his happiness or misery in 
eternity. 

Here we have another reflection to suggest, 

namely, that this relation of human life to time 

is one of tremendous responsibility. Every step 

of the probation, opportunities neglected, princi- 

7 



70 THE NEW YEAR. 

pies sacrificed, obligations renounced, guilty pas- 
sions indulged, temptations thrown in the way 
of others; all the evil done, all the good pre- 
vented; the pollutions of the heart, the offences 
of the life, corrupt motives, sinful desires, the 
neglect or the abandonment of the great pur- 
pose for the accomplishment of which the 
economy of time and probation were brought 
into existence — each and all will be the subject 
of investigation in the day of judgment, and its 
decision will be in strict accordance with the 
evidence in every case. "We are not merely pass- 
ing through time into eternity; one is not the 
mere consequence of the other, but our eternity 
will be happy or miserable as we have answered 
or defeated the great end of our terrestrial pro- 
bation. Every child of Adam that dies, and 
has lived long enough to stand upon his proba- 
tion — that is, who has passed the years of in- 
fancy — has to account for all before the bar of 
the Eternal. " These shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment, but the righteous into life 
eternal." The moral consciousness of this world 
will prove either the heaven or the hell of the 
next. We are at this moment standing in the 
path and taking a direction either to the one or 
the other. And what do these fearful conside- 
rations imply? If from this single point of 



THE NEW YEAR. 71 

time the destinies of eternity take their charac- 
ter, and if in the choice, the decision, the im- 
provement of a moment, immortal and everlast- 
ing interests are suspended, it behoves us to 
consider the special duties which spring out of 
these various relations, which assume peculiar 
weight at the present season. The voice of the 
opening year to every reader is, " Redeem the 
time — the days are evil.'' And every devout 
heart which is impressed with the solemn con- 
victions we have endeavoured to awaken, is 
breathing the supplication of the Psalmist, "So 
teach us to number our days that we may apply 
our hearts unto wisdom." 

The first hours of a year ought to be spent 
in serious, faithful retrospection. A year is 
gone, but its responsibilities remain; and who 
can estimate the alarming amount! He that 
is so infatuated as to deem a single year an 
insignificant part of the life of man, betrays 
the sad secret of his degeneracy, and forces 
upon us the appalling reflection, that his whole 
earthly career has been a blank, and respon- 
sibility and guilt have kept an equal pace with 
his flying hours; and that if arraigned at the 
bar of God, who requireth that which is past, 
he would sink reproved and condemned into 
everlasting ruin. Time, even its minutest parti- 



72 THE NEW YEAR. 

cles, is infinitely precious; gold and rubies, com- 
pared with it, are less than nothing, " I have 
lost a day !" was once uttered with a sigh; with 
what a groan should it be said, " I have lost a 
year!" 

Introspection is never more seasonable than 
at the point which divides one period of our 
earthly existence from another. When Time 
calls upon us to record his progress, and to 
pause between the past and the future, the 
receding and the advancing year have both a 
voice, which may be heard in the sanctuary of 
conscience; but then every other sound must be 
hushed, and the soul must commune with itself 
alone. 

There is one class of our readers who may 
derive eminent advantage by commencing the 
year with a sacred regard to its improvement. 
We refer to the rising generation, who, in the 
nature of things, have before them the greater 
portion of that life which is the allotment of 
humanity ; who have not squandered or wasted 
it away, or who are not so far launched on the 
ocean of dissipation and folly, that they may be 
brought back to the shore, to prepare for another 
voyage, on another ocean, and with the port of 
immortal happiness in view. These, therefore, 
we would earnestly and affectionately counsel. 



THE NEW YEAR. 73 

There are three grand divisions of your time 
which, if rightly improved, will embrace the 
whole round of human obligation as regards the 
progress of the present life to its final destina- 
tion. There is first, your secular time, which 
belongs to society; there is secondly, your own 
time, the hours when you may retire to study, 
or to the bosom of your family, to the lecture- 
room, to the sanctuary of religion, or to betake 
yourself to the walks of usefulness ; these sea- 
sons are portions of the common days of the 
week; then there is your sacred time, which 
belongs to God, and to the concerns of eternity. 
As the last is the most important, we shall begin 
with it. 

The Sabbath is the palladium of your heart 
amidst the temptations and fascinations of the 
world; it is the sanctuary of whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatso- 
ever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. 
Reverence the Sabbath and keep it; count it 
honourable, and make it your delight. Meet 
with your brethren in the faith, where prayer is 
wont to be made. Mingle your devotions with 
the sons and daughters of the Lord God Al- 
mighty. Give the truths of salvation a welcome 

to your hearts. Let the retired hours of this 

7* 



74 THE NEW TEAR. 

blessed day find you employed in holding com- 
munion with God, and in visits of mercy to the 
ignorant and the wretched that are perishing 
around you. You will then be guarded against 
every evil. You will enter fully into the merci- 
ful design of Heaven, in connection with time 
and the human interests that it involves. A 
Sabbath well spent, its hours rightly improved 
and devoted, not to objects of secular import- 
ance, nor to the cultivation of the intellect and 
of the taste, but to the increase of spiritual 
knowledge, and preparation for eternity; this 
will keep alive in your bosoms a conscientious 
solicitude to please in all things and at all times. 

Thus your secular time, though employed in 
the business of the world, will be regarded by 
you as valuable, not only for its secular use, 
but as affording you the opportunity of acquir- 
ing much useful knowledge by observation and 
intercourse with your fellow-men, as well as of 
impressing them with the force and purity of 
your principles, the consistency of your charac- 
ter, and the superiority which true religion con- 
fers upon her true disciples. 

If the business or occupation which we fol- 
low as our proper calling be pursued with a 
spirit of industry, with a love of justice, and 
with a mind free to converse with God in the 



THE NEW YEAR. 75 

intervals of worldly engagements, this will sanc- 
tify all that is secular, and the common affairs 
of life will thus be turned to a. religious account. 
It is possible so to work in our calling as not to 
neglect to work in our high calling, to unite 
the Church and the commonwealth, the interests 
of the body and the interests of the soul — the 
time which is more properly your own, which 
you can dispose of as you please without inter- 
ference or control. It is on the right improve- 
ment of these portions of life that your intel- 
lectual, moral, and spiritual excellence greatly 
depends. If in these seasons you keep your 
heart with all diligence, if your recreation be 
but an exchange of one employment for another, 
if the pursuits of science or the acquisition of 
accomplishments supply you with materials for 
reflection and become a zest to devotion rather 
than a drawback; and above all, if among the 
various objects which employ the energies of 
the Church, you select one on which to expend 
your thoughts and your best and persevering 
efforts, then will you indeed rightly improve 
your time; your leisure moments will be golden 
mercies, you will enjoy life, and it will be a 
blessing. Nor is this all. What we sow in a 
few minutes and spare portions of time, grows 
up to crowns and sceptres in a glorious eternity. 



76 TIIE VOICE OF THE NEW TEAR. 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

"time wasted is existence; used, is life." 

Another of our years has passed away. Its 
varied aggregate of events is completed. They 
cannot be cancelled or recalled. Their effects 
will never cease to be felt for good or for evil. 
On communities they will extend throughout 
their entire history, and on individuals through- 
out eternity. In ages yet to come, men will 
appeal to them as the source of changes still 
telling on the destiny of empires, and modifying 
the aspect of the world ; and amid the rewards 
and retributions of another life, multitudes of 
spirits will turn to them as having fixed upon 
them the indelible stamp of happiness or misery 
— as deciding them for heaven or hell. In 
great and solemn events which constitute eras 
in history, and speak in monitory tones to the 
nations of the earth, the year which has just 
closed is invested with a prominence that will 
render it memorable throughout all ages. 

And turning to the religious aspect of the 
past year, what pentecostal tokens of the near- 
ness of millennial times have been granted to the 
Church of God in this land — what living and 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 77 

immortal testimonies have been given to the 
power of the gospel. How many myriads have 
been constrained to listen to the voice of wis- 
dom, and have followed in her shining footsteps; 
forsaking the slippery and ruinous ways of sin, 
and climbing the ascending and ever-brighten- 
ing path of the just; and yet, alas, multitudes 
have stopped their ears against the voice of the 
charmer, have stifled convictions, have quenched 
the Spirit, and have plunged with greater and 
more fatal avidity into worldly pursuits, amuse- 
ments, folly, and sin. Happy the churches 
that can look back with mingled feelings of 
gratitude and humble triumph on efforts put 
forth and sacrifices made for the glory of God 
and the salvation of men; and happy those 
among the young or those of riper years who 
can reflect on the year that has gone as the 
turning point in their moral history, as the 
commencement of a life that shall never end ! 
But how sad, how portentous the review, in the 
case of those to whom the past presents no 
memorials of repentance, no evidence of faith, 
no hallowed seasons of prayer, no bright spot 
illumined and immortalized by victory over sin 
and communion with God. 

But as the year which has just closed was 
fraught with events important to the world, to 



78 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

churches, to families and individuals, so is that 
which has commenced. It will be ever memora- 
ble to thousands. As it rolls on, week after 
week and month after month will unfold events 
whose influence will spread over every future 
year, and accompany us into the world beyond. 
What, every thoughtful reader will ask, will be 
the position of our country at its close; what 
the aspect of the churches of this land; what 
the condition of the family or circle of friends 
to which he belongs; and what his own destiny, 
as an intelligent, immortal being? The man 
who does not awake to solemn musings on the 
future, when the new year, trumpet-tongued, 
summons all to thoughtfulness, self-examination, 
and prayer, must be the victim of an insensi- 
bility that implies long familiarity with sin, and, 
it may be, indicates judicial abandonment by the 
Spirit of God. The new year calls us to commit 
our ways to God in deep thoughtfulness and 
prayer, as he alone knows what it will bring 
forth. 

The year that has commenced is veiled to 
every mortal eye. No human sagacity can tell 
what may take place before its close. No 
created wisdom can penetrate the mystery that 
shrouds it, or make adequate preparation for 
its contingencies and possibilities. Imagination, 



THE VOICE OE THE NEW YEAR. 79 

drawing its materials from the past, may gladden 
or terrify by the pictures it presents; — anxiety 
may tremblingly anticipate scenes of perplexity, 
sorrow, or disappointment, and may cease to 
draw comfort from the promises and providence 
of God; — hope may spread its glittering wing, 
and speed on throughout the entire course of 
the year, light : ng up stars of promise along its 
way, and enriching every day w 7 ith fresh and 
joyous tokens of happiness and success; — keen- 
eyed speculation may attempt to pry into the 
future, and pretend to foresee and classify the 
fluctuations of trade, and commerce, and poli- 
tics; — presumptuous self-confidence may assume 
the mantle of the prophet, and tell of vials to 
be poured out, and new phases of history to be 
evolved; but all will prove nothing better than 
the vague surmises of men who attempt to give 
shape and substance to the impalpable shadows 
of a dream. The eye of Omniscience alone 
beholds, and the hand of Omnipotence alone 
can marshal and control the events with which 
the future teems. The fears of anxiety and the 
visions of hope will alike, in a thousand in- 
stances, fail of realization; the predictions of 
matured wisdom, as well as the arrogant assump- 
tions of reckless speculation, may be rebuked; 
the sky that is now brightest may be overcast; 



80 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

whilst that which is cloudy, and charged with 
the elements of tempest, may become serene and 
sun-lighted. The times and the seasons are in 
the keeping of God, nor can man or angel be 
permitted to invade that sacred province. The 
future is a sealed book, and can be opened and 
read by finite beings only when it becomes the 
present. 

At the commencement of a new year, then, 
as far as mere human sagacity and foresight are 
concerned, we resemble voyagers launching on 
a sea, overhung with impenetrable mists; or 
soldiers listening to the first trumpet-note that 
calls them to a conflict which may issue in vic- 
tory or defeat. We must advance; an irrever- 
sible law sweeps us on; but it is a veiled and 
untrodden future that lies before us, whose dark- 
ness enwraps all that we hope or fear, and seems 
to gather around us in thicker gloom in propor- 
tion to our anxiety to read its secrets. Our 
refuge then is God, and not man; our guide, 
faith, and not experience, or the forecastings of 
human sagacity; and the appeal addressed to 
us by the new year is, " Trust in the Lord and 
do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also 
in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires 
of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 81 

Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to 
pass." "la all thy ways acknowledge him, and 
he shall direct thy paths." 

Again, the new year summons us to confi- 
dence in God, because it is charged with events 
of the highest importance to multitudes, and it 
may be to us. 

Whilst the year which has just commenced is 
wrapped in shadows, which neither the conjec- 
tures of prying curiosity nor the forecastings of 
anxious care can penetrate, and whilst no voice 
falls on the ear, to tell what may transpire dur- 
ing its flight, it is fraught with events important 
to the world, to churches, to families and to 
individuals; and may it not be to the reader 
whose eyes rests on these pages. By nature's 
laws what may be, may be now. There is no pre- 
rogative in human hours. Already the seeds of 
events, which shall be decisive of our earthly 
fortunes, have perhaps been sown, and it may 
be only the flight of a few short months is needed 
to bring them to maturity. A tempest may be 
impending, whose nearness a vivid flash or a 
few falling drops have already proclaimed, and 
before many days have passed, it may sweep in 
desolation over us. The scene that now looks 
fair and serene, all bathed in sunshine, may be 
stripped of everything that kindles admiration 



82 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

or envy, and left like one of the islands of the 
Pacific, over which the hurricane has passed. 
Each day, as it appears, will bear on its wings 
events, or the tidings of events, that will mock 
the visions of hope, and dim the gorgeous tapes- 
tries of pictured joys. 

Now, the position which we occupy may appear 
fortified against the hazards that throng around ; 
but a tide may be rising that may undermine 
the foundation on which we rest; — secret fires 
may be struggling beneath our feet, speedily to 
break forth like the slumbering volcano in wast- 
ing and ruin. Now, business may realize our 
best expectation; fortune may smile upon us, 
and multitudes may gather around to present 
flatteries or heartfelt congratulations; but before 
the close of the year, shadows may have gather- 
ed, plans may have been frustrated, and flat- 
terers may have fallen off, like autumnal leaves 
when touched by chilling winds, whilst friends 
may be called to substitute condolence for con- 
gratulation. Now, our name may be honoured 
wherever it is pronounced — in the work-shop or 
the market-place, in the private circle or the 
public assembly; but calumnious tongues may 
assail us; falsehood may impair our reputation, 
and without the means of defence or vindication, 
we may have the bitterness to know that our 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 83 

principles are questioned, and our integrity 
impeached, where once we were esteemed and 
honoured. Now, an unclouded light may rest on 
i our dwellings, and glad faces may meet us, re- 
flecting and augmenting our happiness; but this 
year a change may come — sickness and death 
may enter. Hearts that ever throbbed responsive 
to ours, may cease to beat; eyes that uniformly 
shone upon us with the beamings of tenderest 
love, may become dim ; faces that looked up to 
us, flashing with intelligence and affection, may 
sink into the grave ; the pall of sorrow may have 
taken the place of the festal garments of happi- 
ness. Multitudes who are now in the enjoyment 
of health, who mingle with eagerness in the fes- 
tivities of the season, and are looking forward 
to the realization of cherished hopes, will this 
year be numbered with the dead; instead of the 
journey of pleasure, there will be departure to 
the regions of the dead; instead of the bridal 
robe, there will be the shroud; instead of gains 
and pleasures, there will be the cold obstruc- 
tions of the tomb. And may it not be that you 
who read these sentences shall this year be smit- 
ten by the hand of death? Long before its 
close the grass may cover your last resting- 
place, your ear may be shut to the sounds of the 
world, and your destiny in eternity may be fixed, 



84 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

never, never to change. How solemn then are 
the thoughts with which the commencement of 
the year should inspire us, and how monitory 
and urgent the appeal it addresses to us ! Its 
appeal is, "Prepare to meet thy God ;" "Watch 
and pray;" "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might ; for there is no work, 
nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the 
the grave, whither thou goest." 

Further: As this year may be our last, its 
commencement calls the Christian to increased 
devotedness, and the undecided to immediate 
decision for God. 

The solemn possibility that the year on which 
we have entered may terminate the period of 
our active service for God on earth, urges upon 
Christians, in loud and monitory tones, the duty 
of augmented zeal and devotedness. Every 
Christian, we should ever remember, is sent on 
a mission intimately connected with the honour 
of Christ and the salvation of the world. To his 
care and stewardship talents have been commit- 
ted, on the right employment of which his final 
acceptance and the brightness of his crown are 
dependent. The impressive thought, then, that 
before this year has reached its close, we may 
have passed away from the post of usefulness 
we now occupy, and the opportunities of self- 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 85 

improvement we now enjoy; that the talents 
committed to our hands may have been recalled, 
and our place assigned us among the mighty 
company of the dead, ought surely to quicken 
us as if an angel spoke. If we can humbly 
trust that the Master, as he looks down benig- 
nantly upon us, says, " You have done what you 
could," the consciousness of this, combined with 
the thought that our efforts for his glory may 
speedily come to an end, should stimulate to 
higher and more self-denying acts of consecra- 
tion to his service. It should quicken us to aug- 
mented efforts for the prosperity of the Church 
with which we stand connected ; for the salva- 
tion of the families to which we belong ; for the 
enlightenment of the neighbourhood where we 
dwell, and for the evangelization of the world 
at large. 

If, on the other hand, we are smitten mih 
the conviction that we have been unprofitable 
servants; if we feel that the Master looks down 
upon us saying, "Behold, I come, seeking fruit 
on this fig-tree, and find none!" the thought that 
the day is far spent, and the night at hand, calls 
us to deal faithfully with ourselves; to test our 
principles; to w r eigh and analyze our motives; 
to cast loathingly from us all forms and shams ; 
to see that our efforts for the cause of God are 
8* 



86 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

not marred and rendered offensive, like the gift 
of Ananias and Sapphira, by the part whicl 
kept back in the spirit of dishonest and selfish 
concealment; and to cultivate the spirit of vigi- 
lance and prayer, that when the coming of the 
Bridegroom is announced, we may be ready 
our lamps burning, and our loins girt about with 
truth. 

If indecision still cleaves to us: if. amid 
the loud calls of Providence, the pleadings ;; 
conscience, the entreaties of friends, and the 
arguments and persuasions of an enlightened 
and faithful ministry, we have hitherto remained 
among the undecided, oscillating between convic- 
tions of sin and the allurements of the world — 
between the claims of Christ and the fascina- 
tions of amusement or business — the solemn 
thought that this year we may be numbered 
with the dead, calls us with the emphasis of a 
voice from heaven to decide for God. Inde- 
cision is a state of painful disturbance and peril, 
rapidly tending to the hardened insensibili:^ ;: 
utter and irremediable impenitence. The vessel 
that is tossed from billow to billow, without 
rudder or compass, gains no haven of safety, 
but inevitably sinks amid the waves, or strews 
the beach with her fragments. In like manner, 
the man who suffers himself to become the victim 



THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAK. 87 

of the perilous alternations of indecision, seldom 
or never reaches the security, or tastes the hap- 
piness of heartfelt, undivided devotedness to the 
service of God. Reader, if you are still halting 
between two opinions, the dread possibility which 
hangs over you calls you to immediate decision. 
If you will not decide, the flight of a few months 
may. The hour is on the wing — it may be close 
at hand — that will put decision for ever beyond 
your reach. Before this year has closed, your 
opportunities of deciding for God may have 
ceased, and the sentence may have gone forth 
against you, " Cut it down; why cumbereth it 
the ground?" Continued indecision is inevita- 
ble ruin. 

Some who may read this article are perhaps 
altogether unmoved by the flight of time, or the 
possibility of a sudden call to stand in the pre- 
sence of God. Many years have swept over 
them, and yet they have thought no more of 
eternity, to which they are hastening, than if 
they were exempted from its dread decisions 
and allotments. The year that has just passed 
has only added to the amount of their misspent 
time, and deepened their insensibility. Their 
thoughts have been occupied exclusively with the 
present; — business, pleasure, and, it may be, 
guilty indulgence, have left no room for the 



88 THE VOICE OF THE NEW YEAR. 

solemnities of death, judgment, and eternity. 
Occasionally, perhaps, thoughts of God and re- 
sponsibility, of heaven and hell, may have flashed 
across their mind, but they have speedily passed 
away. Like midnight lightning, they have van- 
ished in darkness, and, by contrast, have only 
served to reveal the fearful and portentious 
intensity. Reader, do you belong to this class? 
This year may be your last. Beware lest you 
be numbered with those who, throughout eter- 
nity, shall be stung and overwhelmed with the 
bitter consciousness that they misspent their 
days, and have forfeited for ever the great end 
of life. 

"I asked a dying sinner, ere the stroke 
Of ruthless Death life's golden bowl had broke: 
I asked him — 'What is time?' 'Time!' he replied, 
6 I've lost it! Ah! the treasure!' — and he died. 

"I asked a spirit lost; but the shriek 
That pierced my soul! I shudder while I speak! 
It cried — 'A particle, a speck, a mite, 
Of endless years' duration infinite!' 

"I asked my Bible, and methinks it said, 
'Thine is the present hour; the past is fled, 
Live! live to-day! to-morrow never yet 
On human being rose or set.' " 



RETROSPECTS AND PROSPECTS. ' 89 



THE NEW YEAR; OR, RETROSPECTS 
AND PROSPECTS. 

Christian reader, let the opening year be 
regarded by you as a call to serious thought. 
Pause in your course, that both the past and the 
future may be contemplated in their proper 
lights. You have just closed one period of time, 
and entered on another. See to it that your 
mental attitude is such as to correspond with 
your condition and prospects. In turning your 
eye on the year that has closed, you will doubt- 
less perceive much to remind you of imperfec- 
tion, of negligence, and even of positive failure. 
How has it been with you in the closet? 
Has it been a year of intimate fellowship with 
Heaven? or has it been one of dulness and lan- 
guor in the divine life? Do not hide from your 
view, beloved reader, the real state of the case. 
think not that you are "rich, and increased 
with goods, and standing in need of nothing, 
while you are poor, and miserable, and wretched, 
and blind, and naked." All declensions in reli- 
gion, remember, begin in the closet. Have you 
had a good year, then, in the closet? What 
progress have you made in combatting and over- 



90 THE NEW year; or, 

coming secret sins? What victory have you 
obtained over the sin that doth most easily beset 
you? What delight have you found in medita- 
ting upon the word, in reviewing the solemn 
lessons of the Christian pulpit, in striving to 
reach a more undisputed spirituality of mind, in 
struggling to possess a greater superiority to 
the world? In such inquiries as these, do not, 
I beseech you, deceive yourself. Let not the 
recollection of a few fitful seasons of devotion 
lead you to conclude that it has been a good 
year to your soul. Be humble before the Lord, 
if the verdict of conscience is unsatisfactory. 
But be sure not to stop here. Both the facts 
and the causes of your failure must be detected. 
New plans of devotion must be formed; old 
errors must be relinquished; the opening year 
must witness not only your godly sorrow for the 
past, but such fruits as are meet for repentance. 
Specific defects and failures must be detected 
and abandoned, and such new methods of prose- 
cuting the religion of the heart must be resorted 
to as conscience and the word of God may dic- 
tate. 

How has it been with you in the sanctuary? 
That is a good year to the Christian, in which 
the public ordinances of God have proved a 
decided blessing to his soul. How has it been 



RETROSPECTS AND PROSPECTS. 91 

with you, then, Christian reader? Has the day 
of sacred rest been hailed by you with joy, and 
have its hours been devoted with zeal and dili- 
gence to the great business of eternity? Have 
you habitually repaired with gratitude to the 
house of God, and sought to mix faith with the 
word preached? Or has the day in which Christ 
rose from the dead been a weariness unto you? 
Have its exercises been attended in the spirit of 
formality, and has but little profit been reaped 
from its holy fellowships? 0, look narrowly 
into these questions; and if you are constrained 
to say that it has been an unprofitable year 
with you, as it respects the sanctuary, look with 
scrutinizing eye into the cause, be humbled in 
the discovery, and seek for grace to enter with 
more zeal, and devotion, and profit upon the 
social religion of the coming year. 

How has it been with you in the management 
of your worldly affairs, and in your intercourse 
with mankind? Have you been keeping your 
garments unspotted? Is it easy to determine 
whose servant you are? Or have you been 
exposing the Christian profession to the scorn 
of enemies? Have you been undecided, irreso- 
lute, timid, compromising, and wanting in holy 
consistency of character? If so, make a stand 
for God now. Time is short; awake out of 



92 REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 

sleep. The Judge may be even at the door. 
This year thou niayest die ; this night thy soul 
may be required of thee. 

Are any who read these lines halting between 
two opinions, neglecting to confess Christ before 
men, stifling the voice of conscience, and pro- 
ceeding from stage to stage of life without 
giving themselves up to the service of God? 
Let this year be hailed by them as a time 
accepted and a day of salvation. While God 
says to them, "Seek ye my face," let the reply 
of their hearts be, "Thy face, Lord, will we 
seek." While the Redeemer addresses them, 
as he did Peter, "Lovest thou me more than 
these?" let the response of each heart be, 
"Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I 
love thee." 



REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW TEAR. 

Can it be that another year has fled ! With all 
its joys and trials, all its sins and duties, all its 
instructions and privileges— is it fled? 

Yes, it is gone! It has terminated the lives 
of millions; and like an irresistible current, has 
borne them on to the grave and the judgment. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 93 

It has gone — like a dream of the night, it has 
gone ! 

Amid the rapids of time, there are few objects 
a man observes with less care and distinctness. 
To one standing on the shore, the current 
appears to pass by with inconceivable swiftness; 
but to one who is himself gliding down the 
stream, the face of this vast extent of waters is 
unruffled, and all around him is a dead calm. 
It is only by looking toward the shore, by dis- 
cerning here and there a distant landmark, by 
casting his eye back upon the scenery which is 
retiring from his view, that he sees he is going 
forward. And how fast! The tall pine that 
stands alone on the mountain's brow, casts its 
shade far down the valley, while the huge pro- 
montory throws its shadow almost immeasurably 
on the plain below. It is but a few years and I 
was greeting life's opening day. But yesterday 
I thought myself approaching its meridian; to- 
day I look for those meridian splendours, and 
they are either wholly vanished, or just descend- 
ing behind the evening cloud. I cannot expect 
to weather out the storms of this tempestuous 
clime much longer. A few more billows on 
these dangerous seas — perhaps a few days of fair 
weather, is the most I can look for, before I am 
either shipwrecked or reach my desired haven. 
9 



94 REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 

Why fly these years so rapidly? It is in 
anticipation rather than retrospect, that men put 
too high an estimate upon earthly things. I 
have been wandering to-day in the graveyard; 
I have trodden softly on the place of my fathers' 
sepulchres. I have been playing with the wil- 
low and the cypress that weep over their dust. 
The generations of men dwell here. Yes, here 
they are; those whom I have loved, and still 
love, and hope to love, are here. The fashion 
of this world passeth away. The fair fabric of 
earthly good is built upon the sand; it rocks 
and falls under the first stroke of the tempest. 
Man, at his best estate, is altogether vanity. It 
is well that it is so. "Were it otherwise, we 
should put far off the evil day, and live as if 
we flattered with immortality on the earth. 
When the Doge of Venice showed Charles the 
Fifth the treasury of St. Mark, and the glory 
of his princely palace, instead of admiring them, 
he remarked, "These are the things that make 
men loath to die." 

On what rapid wings has this last year sped 
its course! How sure and certain an approxi- 
mation to the close of this earthly existence! 
Every year adds to what is past, and leaves less 
to come. What is your life? It is even as a 
vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then 



REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 95 

vanisheth away. What is it when compared with 
the amount of labour to be accomplished, and 
the magnitude of the interest at stake? What is 
it compared with the facility with which it may 
be interrupted, and the ten thousand causes of 
decay and dissolution it is destined to encounter? 
What is it compared with the ever-enduring 
existence to which it is an introduction? How 
fugitive — how frail ! Hardly has the weary tra- 
veller laid himself down to rest, when he is sum- 
moned away to pursue his journey, or called to 
his everlasting home. We spend our years as a 
tale that is told. The flying cloud, the evanes- 
cent vapour, the arrow just propelled from the 
string, the withering grass, the flower whose 
beauty scarcely blooms ere it is faded, and whose 
fragrance is scarcely perceptible ere it is gone, 
are apt similitudes of the life of man. 

I am but a wanderer, a pilgrim, a sojourner 
on the earth. Though everything is cheerful 
about me, I feel to-day exiled and alone. A 
thousand recollections crowd upon my mind to 
remind me of the past, to premonish me of the 
future, and to lead me to some just conceptions 
of the present. This world is not my home. I 
have made it my resting-place too long. I hear 
a voice to-day, in accent sweet as angels use, 
whispering to my lonely heart, " Arise and de- 



96 REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 

part hence, for this is not your rest." I am 
away from my Father's house; I have felt vexa- 
tions and trials; I have experienced disappoint- 
ments and losses; I have known the alienation 
of earthly friends ; I am not a stranger to de- 
jected hopes ; I know something of conflicts 
within. But, now and then I have a glimpse of 
the distant and promised inheritance, which 
more than compensates me for all. It is no 
grief of heart to me that I have no enduring 
portion beneath the sun. I am but a passing 
traveller here ; I would fain feel like one who is 
passing from place to place, and going from 
object to object, with his eye fixed on some long- 
wished-for abode beyond, while every successive 
scene brings me nearer to the end of my course, 
and all these earthly vicissitudes endear to me 
the hopes of that final rest. To live here, how- 
ever happily, however usefully, however well, 
must not be my ultimate object. I was born for 
eternity — nay, I am the tenant of eternity even 
now. Time belongs to eternity; it is a sort of 
isthmus — or rather a little gulf, with given de- 
marcations, set off and bounded by lines of ignor- 
ance ; but it mingles with the boundless flood; 
it belongs to eternity still. A great change 
indeed awaits us. We must drop this taberna- 
cle, and go into a world of spirits; but we shall 



REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 97 

be in the same duration. I must live for eter- 
nity. 

In entering on another year, I know not 
from what unexpected quarter, or at what an 
unguarded moment, difficulties and dangers may 
come. that I could enjoy more of the favour 
of God, more of the presence of the Saviour, 
more of the sealing of the ever-blessed Spirit ! 
for more of a calm approving conscience, and 
more of the delightful influence of the peace- 
speaking blood of Jesus Christ. From some 
cause or other I begin this year with a trem- 
bling heart. I fear I may lose my way. I am 
afraid lest I should turn aside from the straight 
path; lest I may repose in the bower of indo- 
lence and ease; lest I may sleep on enchanted 
ground; lest I should be ensnared if not de- 
stroyed by an unhallowed curiosity; lest I 
should be betrayed by my own presumption and 
self-confidence. I can remember some, who 
have forsaken the way and fallen into snares, 
and the sad memorials of their folly are strewed 
along my path. Why should I hope to pass 
unwatched or unmolested? The enemy is not 
asleep. Many a time have I been baffled by his 
artifices. Rest where I will, and rise when I 
may, he is always at my side. And shall I 
dream of peace? Shall I not watch and pray ? 
9* 



98 REFLECTIONS ON THE NEW YEAR. 

Will not presumption and sloth cost me dear ? 
Blessed God, hold thou me up and I shall be 
safe. Pity thy erring creature; forgive thy 
wandering child. Keep, and with the bounties 
of thy grace bless thy poor suppliant. Preserve 
him another year. Let him not be conformed 
to this world. Give him a warm and humble 
heart. Let nothing interrupt or retard his 
progress toward the Zion above. 

I would live another year if it be my Heavenly 
Father's will; and yet I would not live to sin, 
and fall and reproach my Saviour and his 
blessed cause. Better die than live to no good 
purpose. I would live till my work is done — 
cheerful when it is most arduous, and grateful 
for strength according to my day. But I would 
not be afraid to die. Shall the child desire to 
be away from his Father's house? Shall the 
traveller, already weary, choose to have his stay 
in the wilderness prolonged? It were a sad 
sight to see a Christian die with regret — to see 
him go home as if he were going to a prison. 
let me think much and often of my heavenly 
home! 

"Jerusalem, my happy home, 
Name ever dear to me ! 
When shall my labours have an end, 
In joy, and peace, and thee? 



REFLECTIONS OX THE NEW YEAR. 99 

Jerusalem, my happy home, 

My soul still pauts for thee ; 
Then shall my labours have an end, 

When I thy joys shall see." 

Let me, then, often climb the mount of con- 
templation, and prayer, and praise, and there 
try to catch a glimpse of the glory to be re- 
vealed, and get my cold heart affected with a 
view of its yet distant endearments. Love to 
God, communion with God, devotedness to God, 
these are the foretastes of heaven. If, through 
the cares and duties of secular life, I cannot pre- 
serve an invariable tendency of mind toward 
that holy world, let it be a more habitual and 
frequent tendency. I feel the sorrows of this 
guilty insensibility, this languor of spiritual 
affection, and long for those hallowed moments 
when the meltings of contrition, the fervours of 
desire, the vividness of faith, and the hope full 
of immortality, shall shed their sacred fragrance 
over my spirit, and make me pant for heaven. 
Nor let it be a transient emotion, kindled by 
some momentary excitement, or awakened by 
some impulse of the imagination, but marked by 
all the ardour of passion, and all the constancy 
of principle. 

Spirit of the Redeemer, shed abroad thine 
own love in this poor heart of mine, and thus 



100 REFLECTIONS OX THE NEW YEAE. 

seal to the day of eternal redemption! Let me 
greet every truth, every providence, every medi- 
tation that shall invite me to more intimate 
intercourse with heaven. Let me dwell upon 
the communications sent down from that blessed 
world to cheer my fainting spirit, and revive my 
courage by the way. Let me welcome those 
messages of Divine Providence that are designed 
and adapted to intercept my constant view of 
earth, and bring the realities of eternity near. 
Let me grieve at nothing that makes me familiar 
with heaven. Let me never mourn when some 
little stream of comfort and joy is dried up, and 
I am driven more directly to the fountain. Let 
me take a fresh departure for the land of pro- 
mise from the beginning of this new year. I 
would fain look upward with a more steadfast 
eye, and march onward with a firmer step. 
Nor would I lose sight of the cloud by day, and 
the pillar of fire by night, but go where it goes, 
and rest where it rests. 

And who — who will remain behind? Who will 
be content to have his hopes bounded by the 
narrow scenes of earth? Go up, fellow-traveller 
to eternity; go up to some selected eminence of 
thought, where the splendours of the holy city 
shall break upon your view. This world is not 
your home any more than mine. It cannot 



SOMETHING NEW FOR THE NEW YEAR. 101 

comfort you more than it has comforted me. 
You may be called away from all its scenes as 
soon as I. Tour journey to the grave may be 
shorter even than mine. Nay, this year thou 
mayest die ! 



SOMETHING NEW FOR THE NEW 
YEAR. 

"ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE, 
SPENT THEIR TIME IN NOTHING ELSE, BUT EITHER TO TELL, 
OR TO HEAR SOME NEW THING." 

The curious disposition of the Athenians has 
been generally considered as a matter of re- 
proach — but unjustly, I think, except in the 
excess to which it was carried. They did no- 
thing else ! Curiosity has often been the means 
of introducing the gospel, with good effect, into 
new places; and in the instance above cited, 
though some mocked, others clave unto the 
preacher, the Apostle Paul; among whom was 
Dionysius, the Areopagite, and aftewards an 
eminent apologist for Christianity, and a woman 
named Damaris, and others with them. A spirit 
of inquiry is always friendly to religion, when 



102 SOMETHING NEW FOR 

properly conducted. The hearers commended 
in the New Testament are not those who re- 
ceived the doctrine of the Apostles without hesi- 
tation or examination, but those who searched 
the Scriptures daily to see if these were so. 
For this reason the believers at Berea were more 
noble than those of Thessalonica. 

The decrees of councils and of synods may 
perish in the furnace, but divine truth will stand 
the fire like gold. The want of curiosity to 
examine has often proved the greatest obstacle 
to the introduction of the gospel. Faith comes 
by hearing, and if men will not hear, how shall 
they believe? It is the supposed novelty of 
the gospel which often gains the first attention; 
and when it is preached with fervour and affec- 
tion, it seldom fails to excite wonder and admi- 
ration. Its tidings are ever fresh and ever new. 
To the reader, however, I do not mean to recom- 
mend the gospel as a novelty, but I have some 
new things to suggest at the commencement of 
a new year, which I hope will be well and 
prayerfully considered. 

1. Let us inquire what new providences at 
this period particularly call upon us for praise 
and prayer. In public life ask, What new thing 
God has done to our country, and the world? 
What new calamities he has removed, what new 



THE NEW YEAR. 103 

dangers he has delivered us from ? What new 
favours he has conferred, and new blessings 
bestowed? In private life also, Which of us has 
not experienced new providences calling upon 
us for gratitude or humiliation? But I leave a 

blank let the reader fill it up from his 

own circumstances and experience. 

2. What news have we received respecting 
the propagation of the gospel at home and 
abroad? At home, into what new places has 
the gospel been introduced? Where has it been 
revived when languishing? Where is it now 
calling for assistance and support? What news 
have we from abroad? Do the poor benighted 
heathen cast away their idols, and renounce 
their caste, to receive the gospel? Do Moham- 
medans exchange their Koran for the Bible ? Do 
the Jews at last begin to look upon Him whom 
they have pierced, and receive him as the true 
Messiah ? Do the errors and corruptions that 
have been incorporated with Christianity for so 
long a time in the Greek and Romish churches 
begin to be dissolved and disappear before the 
brightness of Christ's coming, and the power of 
his Spirit. Is there nothing new from the 
land of Luther, and of the Reformation? Are 
there no signs of their turning to the Lord, 



104 SOMETHING NEW FOR THE NEW YEAR. 

to worship him in the faith and spirit of the 
gospel ? 

3. What new plans of benevolence and public 
utility have been lately started ? Sunday-schools 
may have lost their novelty, though by no means 
their usefulness. Education is becoming more 
general ; the children of the poor as well as the 
rich, enjoy its benefits. What new incitements 
and new attractions are held out to induce chil- 
dren to come to the Sunday-school ? The Bible, 
the Missionary and the Tract Societies are tra- 
velling hand in hand through the world. Many 
are running to and fro, and knowledge is increas- 
ing. May we not hope that the period is not 
very distant when the knowledge of the Lord 
shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea. 
At least, we ought to pray for its approach and 
labour to hasten it in its time. To a kingdom 
founded upon truth, and to be filled with know- 
ledge, the increase of literature and science 
(truly so called) must in every department be 
advantageous. Let the Prince of this world 
bind his subjects in chains of darkness as he is 
bound. Christianity is a system of light and 
liberty, and its children love the light, and 
rejoice to see its beams, whether they shine upon 
the domes of its temples, the walls of its acade- 
mies, or the cottages of its poorest population. 



a new-year's gift. 105 

"While I have commended the Athenians for 
their curiosity in their inquiries after novelty, 
I would not reccommend my reader to do no- 
thing else. Inquiry should be the spring of 
action; and after learning what is done, and 
what is doing, the next question should be. 
What shall we do? Is the temple of the Lord 
building ? Are the walls of Zion being repaired ? 
0, give me a trowel, that I may lay a brick or 
stone. Let every man build before his own 
house. If I cannot build, let me assist and 
encourage the builders; or if I can do nothing 
else, let me at least join in the general shout, as 
it progresses — Grace ! grace unto it ! 



A NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. 

Thanks be fnto god for his unspeakable Gift. — 2 Cor. ix. 15. 

The new year has been generally regarded as 
a proper season for giving. In some places a 
valuable improvement is made by using it also 
as a season of forgiving. A custom of calling 
indiscriminately at each other's houses, without 
ceremony, on a New- Year's day, affords an 
opportunity to persons who have taken mutual 
offence, so as to produce a temporary alienation, 
10 



106 A neat-year's gift. 

to put an end to it by exchanging visits at that 
season. I have known many disagreements 
thus terminated, and the fact may suggest to 
some persons a profitable hint. But whether 
giving or forgiving be the subject, the text here 
prefixed affords the most powerful motives to a 
suitable improvement of the season. "Thanks 
be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 

It includes the essence of all evangelical truth, 
and the sum and substance of all spiritual graces. 
A gift is a totally different thing from a bargain. 
To be generous in the one, we must be careful 
in the other. I remember once reading of a new- 
made doctor of divinity in the University pul- 
pit at Cambridge, who assured his audience that 
by giving to Addenbroke's hospital, they would 
secure to themselves eternal life. The assembly 
was splendid; it was the elite of the realm; 
heads of houses, noblemen and gentlemen, com- 
moners — gown, town, and country had contri- 
buted their prime at the commencement of a term, 
attracted by the sweetest charms of vocal and 
instrumental harmony. I felt, therefore, some 
curiosity to know what a congregation so able, 
had been willing to sacrifice to the preacher's 
earnest appeal, and I ascertained that it was 
under <£5. Neither did this greatly excite my 
wonder. The doctor had not ventured to fix 



A NEW YEAR'S GIFT. 107 

the minimum price of eternal life, and his cus- 
tomers wished to make the cheapest bargain 
possible. 

No, no, my friends; you dare not bargain 
with God, either for spiritual or temporal 
blessings. You know that whatever he bestows 
upon you is an unmerited gift. But beware in 
your benefactions against bargaining with fel- 
low-creatures. Seek not reputation. Expect 
not returns of gratitude. Do all things heartily 
and of good-will, as to the Lord, and not to men. 
In all our contributions to benevolent objects, 
and our liberality to the poor, we are not there- 
by to purchase eternal life. Perish all such gifts 
as the ground of acceptance with God ! They 
are to be regarded as the fruit and evidence of 
faith in Christ. This liberality, springing from 
divine grace in our hearts, will relieve the wants 
and excite the gratitude of the poor saints; it 
will glorify God the giver of all good; it will 
adorn and recommend the gospel of Christ; and 
through the prayers of the suffering saints thus 
relieved, the abundant blessings of Heaven will 
descend on our souls. But let us ever keep in 
view that our kindness to the poor bears no 
conceivable proportion to the kindness of God 
in giving his beloved Son for our redemption. 
" Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." 



108 A new-year's gift. 

Contemplate first the gift of God, and secondly 
the duty of man. Here mark the nature of the 
gift of God; it is the gift of his beloved Son. 
Jesus Christ is emphatically the gift of God. 
The prophets foretold him as such. "Unto us a 
child is born, unto us a son is given." As the 
Son of man, Jesus was born; but as the Son of 
God, he was given. Jesus describes himself as 
such. " God so loved the world that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
The apostles announce Jesus as the gift of God, 
and declare that he is given as the only Sa- 
viour. Neither is there salvation in any other, 
for there is none other name under heaven given 
among men whereby we must be saved. The 
apostles further declare the Jesus is given as 
the Author of eternal life, and this life is in his 
Son. "He that hath the Son, hath life; and he 
that hath not the Son of God, hath not life." 
"For the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
Christ our Lord." In a word, Jesus is that gift 
of God, which insures and includes all other 
gifts. He that spared not his own Son, but 
gave him up for us all, how shall he not also 
with him freely give us all things to enjoy. 

Mark, next, the excellence of the gift of God. 
It is unspeakable — it is unspeakable in its source, 



A new-year's gift. 109 

in its value, in its character, in its application, 
and in its effects. 

Its source is unspeakable. This source is the 
love of God. u Herein is love, not that we loved 
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to 
be the propitiation for our sins." Jesus is the 
gift of Divine Love. Who can tell why God 
hath loved? Who can calculate hoiv God hath 
loved us? or who can comprehend the beginning 
or the end of the love of God in Christ Jesus? 
Who can tell its duration or its perfections, its 
tenderness or its strength? "For I am per- 
suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre- 
sent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus 
our Lord." In creation, the love of God may 
in some sort be measured, and in providence the 
love of God in some degree may be estimated; 
but the love of God in redemption surpasses all 
calculation — it is infinite, inconceivable, unspeak- 
able ! God is love, infinite and perfect love ; 
this love is manifested only in the redemption 
of sinners. In this was manifested the love of 
God, as if it never had been manifested in any- 
thing else before. In this was manifested the 
love of God toward us because that God sent 
10* 



110 a new-year's gift. 

his only begotten Son into the world that we 
might live through him. Angels, who always 
view the face of our Heavenly Father, stoop 
from their throne in glory to contemplate and 
to adore the manifestation of redeeming love in 
Christ crucified. 

Its value is unspeakable. To form some faint 
idea of the value of this gift, consider the di- 
vinity of the Redeemer's person, and the depth 
of his sufferings. Jesus Christ is truly and eter- 
nally God; he wears all the names of God; he 
possesses all the attributes of God ; he performs 
all the works of God ; he receives all the wor- 
ship of God; he is the Maker, Preserver, Re- 
deemer, and Judge of the world; he is the 
brightness of his Father's glory, and the express 
image of his person; he is the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords; he is the King of saints, and 
the King of glory ; he is the fellow and the 
equal of God; he is the true and the eternal 
God — God over all, blessed for ever ! Men are 
commanded to honour him as they honour the 
Father; and when he bringeth his first-begotten 
into the world, the Father himself saith, "Let 
all the angels of God worship him." Jesus was 
truly God, but Jesus became truly man; he 
grew up as a tender plant out of a dry ground; 
he was born in a stable, and laid in a manger; 



A new-year's gift. Ill 

he passed through the helplessness of infancy, 
the infirmities of childhood, and the labours of 
youth, and when arrived at manhood, he had 
not a place where to lay his head. He was a 
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 
Through life he was despised and persecuted. 
At death he experienced every kind of distress. 
Satan troubled him, men crucified him, God for- 
sook him. His agony in the garden was tre- 
mendous ; and while his soul, under the burden 
of our sins, was sorrowful even unto death, his 
body sweat great drops of blood. One disciple 
betrayed him, another denied him — all, in the 
time of need, forsook him. He was bound as a 
thief; led away as a malefactor; false witnesses 
swore away his life. His judge pronounced him 
innocent, and then, with marvellous inconsist- 
ency, sentenced him to die. His cheek was 
smitten with rods ; his face was spit upon ; his 
temples were pierced with the crown of thorns; 
his back was ploughed with scourges ; his hands 
and feet were fixed with iron spikes to the cross; 
he was raised on high, a spectacle for the astonish- 
ment of angels and for the unfeeling gaze of 
cruel men. His burning thirst was tantalized 
with vinegar and gall; his last prayers were 
turned into ridicule, and his dying groans were 
converted into mockery. His soul, in the last 



112 A new-yeae's gift. 

extremity of anguish, was deprived of the re- 
freshing presence of his Heavenly Father. What 
mind can conceive the meaning, or what tongue 
can rightly utter the words of that bitter cry, 
"My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken 
me?" 

Let any man now attempt to reach the 
grandeur of the Redeemer's person; let him 
afterwards endeavour to fathom the depth of 
our Lord's sufferings; let him then strive to 
unite and combine these two conceptions — a 
sufferer so infinitely great and holy, and suffer- 
ings so inconceivably varied and tormenting — 
and he will find that no created mind can em- 
brace a subject so vast; that neither human nor 
angelic powers can estimate the value of the gift 
of God in sending his beloved Son to die for 
sinful men. Overwhelmed with such views of 
Divine love, and sinking in the effort to compre- 
hend them, we can only exclaim, "Thanks be 
unto God for his unspeakable gift!" 

Its character is unspeakable. All wisdom, 
mysteries, and blessings unite in Christ cruci- 
fied. Who can declare his generation? Who 
can comprehend his incarnation? Who can un- 
derstand the wonders of his person, or tell the 
preciousness of his atonement, the perfection of 
his righteousness, or the prevalency of his inter- 



a new-year's gift. 113 

cession? From everlasting to everlasting, yet 
born in time; dwelling in heaven, yet abiding 
on earth; truly God, yet truly man; in himself 
the most holy, yet by imputation the chief of 
sinners; honouring and magnifying the law of 
God in every part, yet degraded and punished 
as if he had despised all its authority and broken 
all its commands; the fairest of ten thousand, 
yet without form and comeliness; full of grace 
and truth, yet oppressed by violence, condemned 
by falsehoods; crowned with glory, yet covered 
with shame; the only beloved of the Father, yet 
suffering the wrath of God ; the Prince of life, 
yet dying on the cross; the Author of all good- 
ness, the fountain of all glory, and the source of 
all power, yet expiring on the accursed tree; as 
most weak, wicked, and wretched of mankind, 
dying between two thieves, yet giving a throne 
in paradise; sinking into the tomb, yet opening 
the kingdom of heaven for all believers ; rising 
when he fell ; conquering when he seemed over- 
come; destroying death, even when he died; 
was buried and sealed in the sepulchre, yet burst- 
ing the bands of death, and uttering as he rose, 
the triumphant shout, "0 death, where is thy 
sting? grave, where is thy victory?" 

Besides, Jesus Christ displayed, in full exer- 
cise and in perfect harmony, all the attributes 



114 a new-year's gift. 

of the Godhead — justice in punishing the of- 
fence; mercy in pardoning the offender; holi- 
ness in honouring the law; truth in fulfilling the 
promises; infinite wisdom and infinite love, in 
reconciling God and man — all appear in Christ 
crucified, the gift of God. But who can describe 
a character so various, and yet so harmonious; 
so condescendingly merciful, yet so truly awful; 
so full of mysteries, yet so full of truth ; so de- 
claratory of the glory of God, yet so conducive 
to the everlasting welfare of mankind ? So many 
and such bright rays of majesty and mercy meet 
in the gift of God, that no eye can endure its 
splendour, no tongue can tell its glory — it is 
unspeakable! 

Its application is unspeakable. The gift is so 
great and so precious, so suitable to the state, 
and so sufficient for the wants of man, that it is 
marvellous that men do not desire to receive it* 
On the other hand, the natural heart of man is 
so corrupt, so contrary to holiness, so fond of 
earthly things, and so full of enmity against 
God, that it is equally marvellous if any sinner 
do receive the gift. But some do obtain it. It 
is effectually applied to the sinner ; its applica- 
tion is free. Jesus invites all, and casts out 
none. Jesus is the fountain of happiness, and 
he loudly cries to all, "If any man thirst, let 



A new-tear's gift. 115 

him come to me and drink." Jesus tasted death 
for every man. His blood cleanseth from all 
sin. He is able to save to the uttermost all that 
come unto God by him ; yet Jesus saves freely, 
not for goodness or merits, but according to his 
mercy and grace. 

Its application is spiritual. Though offered 
to all freely, the Holy Spirit alone can effec- 
tually apply the gift of God. Of ourselves we 
can neither feel the need, nor know the value, 
nor desire the application of the salvation of 
Jesus Christ: all this is the work of the Spirit. 
"The Spirit of truth," says Christ, "shall re- 
ceive of mine and show it unto you." They 
who receive Christ become the sons of God, and 
the sons of God are all born of the Spirit; for, 
"Except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter the kingdom of God." "As many as re- 
ceived him, to them gave he power to become 
the sons of God; which were born not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God." Its application is incompre- 
hensible; for in what manner the Holy Spirit 
operates on the soul of man, and renews him in 
the image of God — in what mode he first shows 
to the sinner the need of a Saviour, and then 
enables the penitent to lay hold on Christ Jesus, 
we know not. "The wind bloweth where it 



116 a new-year's gift. 

listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but 
canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it 
goeth; so is every one that is born of the 
Spirit." But though the Spirit worketh in 
secret, he works with power. He can effect in 
an instant what no human reason nor mortal 
eloquence effect. He can suddenly break into 
the iron heart of a gaoler, and force him to cry, 
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" He can 
gently open the devout heart of a Lydia, and 
she will listen with faith and joy to the preach- 
ing of Christ crucified. He can gradually 
reveal Jesus to the humble inquirer as the pearl 
of great price, and make him part with all to 
procure the Saviour. 

Sometimes the influence of the Spirit, like a 
flash of lightning, darts instantaneous conviction 
on a careless soul; at other times, like the 
early dawn of the morning, it gradually dis- 
perses nature's darkness, and increases unto 
the perfect day. Sometimes, like a hammer, it 
breaks the rocky heart to pieces; at others, it 
descends like the dew, and gently melts the 
heart into penitence, and gradually moulds it 
into the image of God. Sometimes, like a 
sword, it pierces through the inmost soul; at 
others, like the balm of heaven, it soothes the 
troubled breast, and heals the wounded heart. 



A xew- year's gift. 117 

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame 
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 
How the Spirit works we cannot tell; but this 
we can boldly declare, that no man can say that 
Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. We 
know not how the tree is made fruitful, but we 
can see the fruit hanging n the branches. Y\e 
know not how the Spirit applies the blood of 
Christ to the conscience, or forms the image of 
Christ in the heart; but we can see the fruits of 
the Spirit and of righteousness in the temper, 
conversation, and conduct. On the whole, as to 
this point, the gift of God is freely offered to all, 
and all, on the peril of eternal ruin, are com- 
manded to receive it; but why some receive and 
others reject it, why the gospel is to some a 
savour of life unto life, and to others a savour 
of death unto death, we can neither explain nor 
comprehend. This, however, is not an opinion, 
but a fact; and all attempts to explain this 
momentous fact, if not positively injurious, will 
certainly be in vain. It is unspeakable — " 
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and 
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his 
judgments, and his ways past finding out!" 

Finally, its effects are unspeakable. If we 
receive the unspeakable gift, if by faith we are 
partakers of Jesus Christ, we shall be delivered 
11 



118 A new-tear's gift. 

from the ruins of the fall, from the misery of 
sin, and from the bitter pains of eternal death ; 
and unless we can count the countless ages of 
eternity, and describe the indescribable torments 
of never-ending punishment, this deliverance 
must be unspeakable. If we are partakers of 
Christ, we shall be partakers of a divine nature, 
our minds will be enlightened, our hearts re- 
newed, our tempers sanctified, our conduct 
reformed and holy, we shall be pardoned and 
justified; we shall have that peace which pass- 
eth all understanding, that joy which is unut- 
terable, and that peace which is full of glory. 
The gift of God will enrich us and bless us 
through all time and through all eternity; it will 
be to us our light in darkness, our treasure in 
poverty, our comfort in sorrow, our friend in 
adversity, our protection in persecution, our 
support in sickness, our life in death, our song, 
our glory, and our crown in heaven. Its effects 
on earth and in the soul are described by the 
most sublime acts of Omnipotence — by creation, 
for ye are created anew in Christ Jesus — by the 
resurrection, for ye are risen in Christ. Surely 
a gift which produces such blessed effects, which 
is illustrated in its operations by the mightiest 
acts of infinite power, must be an unspeakable 
gift. If we receive it now, we shall receive 



A new-year's gift. 119 

eternal life hereafter. Grace and truth always 
come with Jesus Christ. If we receive his grace, 
we receive an infallible pledge of his glory. 
His grace will make us meet for those pleasures 
which are at God's right hand, and put us in 
possession of the everlasting inheritance re- 
served for the saints in heaven ; but eye hath 
not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into 
the heart of man to conceive the things which 
God hath prepared for them that love him and 
receive his Son. Surely then, a gift which in- 
sures a glory which never fades, and leads to 
a happiness which no mind can conceive, no 
tongue can utter, must be an unspeakable gift. 
"Weak must be every effort to illustrate this 
astonishing subject. For what mind can com- 
prehend that which has no bounds? What 
imagination explore the unsearchable riches of 
Christ? W T hat tongue express that which is 
unspeakable? In whatever single aspect we 
view this gift — in its source or value, in its 
character, application, or effects — it is vast, glo- 
rious, and unspeakable. W r hen we combine 
the various rays of its excellency, we are 
oppressed with its majesty and overwhelmed 
with its glory, and feeling more than saints or 
angels can utter, we fall down and adoringly 
cry, " Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable 



120 a new-year's gift. 

gift!" The Church below and the Church 
above, the saints on earth and the saints in 
heaven, unite in this bright song of thanksgiv- 
ing; and could we sing "Thanks be unto God 
for his unspeakable gift" loud enough to be 
heard in heaven, the saints before the throne 
with triumph would thunder back the song, 
" Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!" 
What then, in view of all this, is the duty of 
man? It is to thank God for the gift of hi3 
Son— "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable 
gift." Let us thank God with the gratitude of 
our hearts. Jesus Christ brings with him a 
pardon for every sin, a cure for every disease, 
a deliverance from every enemy, a supply for 
every want, a comfort for every trouble, a sup- 
port for every trial, a title and a meetness for 
every temporal and for every eternal blessing. 
If, therefore, we have received the gift of God ; 
if we are partakers of Jesus Christ; if he has 
pardoned our sins, and healed the diseases of 
our souls; if he delivers us from all our spiritual 
enemies, and richly supplies all our wants; if he 
comforts us in every trouble, guides us in every 
difficulty, stands by us in every danger, and 
supports us in every trial; if he has given us 
his grace, and promised us his glory; if through 
his blood and merits we have a title to heaven, 



A new-year's gift. 121 

and through the operation of his Spirit we are 
made meet for his kingdom; if this be our 
blessed experience, our hearts will feel more 
gratitude than our lips can express. " Bless the 
Lord, my soul; and all that is within me, 
bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, my soul, 
and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all 
thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 
who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who 
crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender 
mercies. " Let us thank God with the praises of 
our lips. Though no tongue can fully express 
the loving-kindness of God in giving his dear 
Son, yet every one who is a partaker of the un- 
speakable gift will devoutly and loudly praise 
the Lord; though he cannot do what he would, 
nor praise God as he ought, he will do what he 
can; though he cannot give utterance to the 
grateful feelings of his heart, he will make the 
attempt; he will declare what God has done for 
his soul; he will praise God in the secret adora- 
tions of his Son ; he will praise him in his family, 
praise him in the social circle with them that 
fear the Lord, and praise him wherever he goes; 
especially will he praise God in the public con- 
gregation. "My heart is fixed, God, my 
heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, 
Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; 
11* 



122 A new-year's gift. 

I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, 
Lord, among the people," and magnify thy 
name. "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable 
gift!" But when the death of Christ is by the 
Church shown forth and celebrated, when the 
believer is invited to partake of the emblems of 
the body and blood of his suffering Lord, then, 
with a heart swelling with gratitude, and lips 
overflowing with praise, "Then will I go unto 
the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy." 
Thanks, thanks, thanks unto God for his un- 
speakable gift ! 

Let us thank God by the obedience of our 
lives. No gratitude of the heart, no praises of 
the tongue, no regularity of delight in the wor- 
ship of God will avail without universal and con- 
stant obedience to his holy laws. Gratitude 
may be the flame, prayer and praise may be the 
incense, but obedience must be the substance 
and the glory of the Christian sacrifice. "Behold, 
to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of rams." When a believer keeps 
the commands of Christ, he best shows his love 
to Christ. When, through faith in Christ, he 
does justly, loves mercy, and walks humbly with 
God; when he lives soberly, righteously, and 
godly in this present world, he then offers the 
best thanks to God for his unspeakable gift. 



DAILY THOUGHTS. 123 

Acts of obedience are acts of thanksgiving. 
Works of faith evidence our sincerity and recom- 
mend religion. The fruits of holiness glorify 
our God. Hereby is my Father glorified, when 
ye bear much fruit. If ye then have received 
the gift of God, and have tasted that Christ is 
gracious, if Christ be precious to your souls, 
and the love of God be shed abroad in your 
hearts by the Holy Ghost, then your hearts will 
be grateful, your lips joyful, and your life obe- 
dient; and heart, and lips, and life will unite in 
one ascription of praise — " Thanks be unto God 
for his unspeakable gift!" 



DAILY THOUGHTS 

FOR THE FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR. 

1. Begin the year well; with enlightened medi- 
tation, seriousness and prayer; relying impli- 
citly on the care and kindness of the God of im- 
mutable fidelity and love, and it will proceed 
well and end well. You know not what may 
occur this year; but leave all with Heaven. 
God will dispose everything wisely and for your 
ultimate good. 

2. The first Sabbath in the year ! Let it be 



124 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

a memorable one. Let it be one of special 
humility, special reflection, special gratitude and 
praise. Be determined that it shall not pass 
away listlessly and unimproved. Be resolved 
in God's help, that a singular blessing shall 
result from its engagements and services. Com- 
mune with God, preeminently believers at the 
table of the Lord this day, it may give a tone 
to all the succeeding Sabbaths of the year. 

3. At the commencement of the year let the 
inquiry be searchingly proposed — How are we 
living? Is it in the exercise of faith — in the 
spirit of holiness, under the influence of prayer? 
or in the neglect of everything which is spirit- 
ual and divine — everything associated with our 
happiness and salvation ? This is a most grave 
inquiry for every reader; let it be seriously 
pondered upon. 

4. During this year, and indeed every year, 
let us confide implicitly in nothing of a sublu- 
nary nature; if we do, we shall indubitably be 
disappointed, and shall act with the utmost 
weakness and folly. Mutability is identified, 
essentially interwoven, with everything that is 
terrestrial. We can securely and infallibly de- 
pend on no object but what is heavenly. Where 
is your dependence fixed ? You are not relying, 
are you, on any of the streams of earthly com- 



FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR. 125 

fort? — if so, how greatly will you be disap- 
pointed! 

5. This day, every day, let me walk with 
Grod as Enoch did, as Noah did, as Abraham 
did, and the day — indeed every day — will be 
one of pure affections, of elevated thoughts, of 
sublime resolves, of holy desires, and heavenly 
communion. If you thus w r alk, dear reader, 
you will partake of angels' food, and cherish 
the angelic spirit— yes, and more, you will pos- 
sess the temper of the Son of God himself. 

6. As the days revolve, do you not feel how 
great is the weakness of man? That excellent 
old writer, Mr. Shomer, observes, "He cannot 
carry his own wishes without falling under 
them. He cannot prosper in his designs with- 
out being changed in the temper of his mind 
upon every success. If we were to have our 
wishes uniformly gratified, we should be ruined." 
Do you feel, reader, in this manner? 

7. Human life, it cannot be too earnestly 
remembered, is too precious to be trifled with, 
much less frittered away. By multitudes, how- 
ever, it is wantonly and criminally squandered 
without reflection and without remorse. A long 
life passes away with many without any regard 
to its object and end; without any improvement 
whatever. My soul, how is it with thee? What 



126 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

report does conscience furnish? Is life properly 
estimated? Ever consider that its due appre- 
ciation is of transcendent importance. 

8. It is a contemplation the most impressive 
and wonderful, that our present existence, in- 
stead of being the whole or the greater part of 
our duration, is in fact comparatively nothing. 
It is only a drop when contrasted with the ocean ; 
a moment when viewed in connection with eter- 
nity! Our future existence will be boundless, 
undefinable, inconceivable. We shall ever be in 
happiness, or ever in misery. "What a thought ! 
Let us then, at all times, rightly and profoundly 
estimate our present existence; but we can only 
do so when we associate it with immortality. 

9. The second Sabbath in the year! How 
did we value the first ? Did we afresh conse- 
crate ourselves to God, and resolve to walk with 
him more humbly, to serve him more cheerfully, 
and to persevere in his ways more vigorously 
than ever? "Was it a profitable Sabbath? Was 
it one of much spiritual enjoyment? Let us 
properly regard this Sabbath, and remember 
that every Sabbath should be improved by us as 
carefully as though it would be our last. 

10. The acute Cecil observes: "We seldom 
discern mercy in its first approach. Does it 
prune away the finest branches, nip the loveliest 



FIRST MONTH OE THE TEAR. 127 

buds, and cover the earth with blossoms? Yes, 
this is frequently the Divine arrangement; and 
it is the arrangement of Infinite Mercy. It 
must be remembered that the life of the whole 
often depends on the removal of a part. Mercy 
will then wound in order to heal. Regard to 
the fertility of the tree will strip off its most 
flourishing suckers/' Always endeavour, dear 
reader, to discern mercy in your afflictions; 
nothing will more sustain and tranquillize. 

11. As the professed disciples of Christ, you 
should be studious at all times to realize a better 
country — that is, a heavenly. It will operate 
most beneficially and powerfully. It will wean 
you from the present world; it will stimulate 
you in the prosecution of your journey; it will 
compose and strengthen you under your daily 
and hourly trials ; it will induce you only to pitch 
your tent here, and to be continually looking for 
the celestial city — the city which hath founda- 
tions. Is this your character? — are these your 
views? — are these your anticipations ? 

12. In passing through life, how often we 
need the rod, the discipline of Providence, pain- 
ful yet paternal. Still, let us remember that 
the rod has a voice. When God strikes, he ad- 
dresses us. Under such circumstances let us 
attend with peculiar earnestness to his commu- 



323 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

nications. The voice is that of the best Friend, 
and of the sagest Counsellor ; indeed, it is the 
voice of Heaven. Never let us put our finger in 
our ears when the rod is speaking. How many 
do this ! They will not hear ! ' 

13. Consider, in all your engagements, and 
all your contemplated movements, dear reader, 
what a span of life, even though protracted to 
its utmost duration, lies between you and the 
grave ! And if you would appropriately esti- 
mate its value, review your past life ; read the 
heads of its history at a rapid, though not a 
trifling glance, and measure by this moment the 
future. 

14. By the lapse of months and years that 
vagueness and indefiniteness are removed, and 
that silent and imperceptible movement which 
would otherwise accompany the flow of time. 
By the revolving year we are enabled in some 
degree to ascertain the point, as to this mortal 
life, on which we stand; and certain measures 
are afforded by which accurately to compute the 
sum of the past, and to calculate by experience 
the probable amount of the portion yet to come. 
As the months roll away, carefully observe the 
revolution. 

15. How startling, reader, is the reflection, 
and how it. ought to impress every heart, that 



FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR. 129 

the end of all things is at hand, even though 
myriads of years were interposed between us 
and the last day ! Our doom may be sealed in 
an instant — in the twinkling of an eye it might 
occur; and when it does, it will be fixed and 
irreversible. 

16. The third Sabbath in the year! How 
quickly Sabbaths come, and how swiftly they 
depart! We can scarcely say they are here, 
before they have vanished. Their opportunities 
are soon gone; their enjoyments, their privi- 
leges, their priceless blessings are soon realized, 
and the world, with all its cares, temptations, 
and dangers, speedily follows. How necessary, 
then, is it to redeem the time of the Sabbath! — 
not to lose a moment, as every one is golden; 
not to neglect an opportunity, as every one is 
most precious ; not to undervalue a single privi- 
lege, as each may be regarded as a pearl of 
great price. 

17. During the present year, if life be pro- 
longed, desire to improve in everything that is 
excellent and divine. Pray habitually that you 
may improve; strive earnestly that your im- 
provement may be visible to yourselves and 
others; and be assured of this, that it will be 
apparent. By God's help you will, you must 
succeed, if you are determined that the end of 

12 



130 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

your desire may be secured. It is the idle, 
listless, irresolute professor, who does not pros- 
per. 

18. Let us this year look around in the world, 
and see how little comparatively is done. How 
much mind lies waste for want of culture ! By 
attention, by labour, by skill, it might be most 
productive. How many immortal beings, in 
relation to their moral, their religious, their 
undying welfare, are utterly neglected ! Minis- 
ters, parents, teachers, members of churches, 
we must all arouse, and work for God! Let 
none of us stand with folded arms. In refer- 
ence to ourselves, let us endeavour to correct 
what is wrong and improve what is right; and 
in relation to others, let us aim at lessening the 
sum of human misery, and augmenting the 
amount of human happiness. 

19. Be exceedingly anxious this year to cul- 
tivate a grateful spirit. Consider what God has 
done for you already; what he is now doing, 
and what he has engaged to do. Every year, 
as it comes and as it rolls away, should find 
you more thankful. What personal mercies are 
imparted; what domestic comforts are. afforded; 
with what relative blessings are you crowned ! 
How mercies accumulate day by day! And 
they are all bestowed on the most undeserving. 



FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR. 131 

Never expect that God will give you that for 
which you will not thank him. 

20. Let us attend to the service of Christ this 
year more seriously than ever. It should be our 
continual employment, our habitual study, our 
deep solicitude, our absorbing desire. What can 
I do for my Lord? should be, dear reader, your 
unceasing inquiry: and not only must you ask 
the question, but perform the work. 

21. It is important to bear in mind that you 
may have many difficulties and trials during 
the current year. Anticipate them; be armed 
against them, and when they come, meet them 
in the right spirit. And remember, Christian 
reader, that there could be no difficulty in your 
way if God did not permit it. Besides, do you 
not owe much to difficulty, much to trial, much 
to danger? Would character have been formed 
or matured without them? Would high Chris- 
tian attainments and excellencies have been 
developed without them ? Impossible ! Go on 
then, determined to endure. 

22. "It is my way," said a master spirit, 
"to suffer no impediment, no love of ease, no 
avocation whatever, to chill the ardour, to break 
the continuity, or divert the completion of my 
literary pursuits." Let every Christian, in rela- 
tion to the labours, the trials, the conflicts of 



132 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

the religious life, exemplify the same temper. 
It is and will be found invaluable. By heroic 
energy like this, anything can be done. There 
is in such a spirit the surest pledge of success. 

23. The fourth Sabbath in the year! Let 
it be the best in the month; the holiest, the 
most spiritual, the most profitable, the most 
heavenly; and in order that it may be, you must 
abound in prayer, and delight in prayer. Those 
Sabbaths are always the happiest and the most 
advantageous, when we are most anxious to hold 
communion with God our Saviour at the mercy 
seat. Regard it as an indubitable principle, 
that no Sabbath will be connected with a bless- 
ing if prayer be neglected, or offered in a cold 
and apathetic manner. Pray more on the 
Sabbath, and God will instruct and bless you 
more. 

24. Peruse the Bible more this year. Read 
it more devotionally, with greater simplicity and 
docility of mind than ever. There is no book 
like the Book of God to aid us in discharging 
the duties of the year, to succour us amidst the 
temptations of the year, to support us under the 
afflictions of the year, and to carry us through 
all the changes of the year. By every Christian 
the Bible is read too little. Will you, avowed 
followers of fhe Redeemer, old and young, pay 



FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR, 138 

closer attention to the word of God during this 
year than any preceding one? 

25. Ministers, parents, teachers, earnestly 
seek the conversion of sinners this year ! It is 
a noble and heroic work; but what difficulties 
are associated with it! "Weigh it well. Go 
about it in the wisest, firmest, humblest manner. 
Attempt nothing in your own strength; observe 
all the impediments in your way, and make 
ample preparation to overcome them. Look up 
to the Spirit of God to assist you and grant you 
a blessing ; then collect your energies, strain 
every nerve, pierce to the centre, strike to the 
heart. Will you be the instrument, reader, of 
converting a soul this year? 

26. Bishop Hall observes, with his usual 
point and sagacity, that "a man's best monu- 
ment is his virtuous actions. " Take care, dear 
reader, that you are helping to rear this monu- 
ment daily, and doing it without noise or osten- 
tation ; building it up in the most solid, yet in 
the most quiet and unpretending manner. 

27. Let it be with each one of us a leading 
object throughout the entire course of life, not 
only to preserve what knowledge we have ac- 
quired, but also to increase it — and especially in 
relation to scriptural knowledge. And if we 
only carry out this principle from day to day, it 

12* 



134 DAILY THOUGHTS FOR THE 

is surprising on what a fund we shall be able to 
draw in twenty or thirty years. Let every 
reader add daily to his stock of Christian know- 
ledge. 

28. During this year do not be too anxious ; 
it is unnecessary, injurious, and improper. Re- 
gard the will of God, follow the directions which 
he has given you in his own word, and then leave 
all the rest to him. He will take care of you ; 
he will supply your wants; he will regard your 
prayers; he will fulfil his promises; he will dis- 
perse your fears. 

29. A great writer has given us a fine direc- 
tion, "Fill your little sphere with brightness 
and happiness. " And if it were thus filled, how 
pure and sunny would be the radiance! — how 
beaming and lasting would be the joy! Will 
you, reader, endeavour this year to fill your 
sphere in this manner? 

30. Some years have five Sabbaths in the 
first month, and this is one of them. Let it be 
to you an emblem and a foretaste of that ever- 
lasting Sabbath in heaven. Look well to your 
hope for eternity this year, as it may be your 
last. See that it is purely scriptural in its cha- 
racter ; that it is well-grounded ; that it has the 
warrant which the word of God will sanction ; 
that there is about it no deception whatever. 



FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR. 185 

Always ponder the solemn remark of a sage and 
holy writer, " There is a hope that is like the 
spider's web— as curiously wrought, as easily 
destroyed." 

31. In aiming to do good this year, you must 
not suppose that all will be tranquil and plea- 
sant; that there will be no obstructions in your 
way. No great work, remember, can be done 
without much opposition. Never, then, look for 
peace while you proclaim war and carry it on. 
In doing good to souls, Satan will give you no 
rest. 

The last day of the month! — how solemn the 
thought ! It will soon be the last day, the last 
hour, the last moment of life ! How do you feel 
in the prospect of eternity? Are you ready for 
your change? Are you pressing towards the 
mark of your calling in Christ Jesus? Will you 
reach heaven? Will you wear the crown? Make 
it your great business every day to be prepared 
for the last day of life ; and then let the days, 
the months, the years, roll on. They will only 
be bringing you nearer the kingdom; the rest 
which God has promised, and the boundless in- 
heritance which you shall eternally enjoy. 



136 FIRST SABBATH IN THE TEAR. 



THE FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 

"The year is born! — the year is born! — 

The past is numbered with the dead! 
"What thoughts arise on New- Year's morn ! 

What days — what friends — what hopes have fled ! 
New time arrives — new works to do — 
New cares — new dangers are in view." 

The return of every Sabbath is a most interest- 
ing period, especially to the person who loves 
God, who loves the truth, and who loves holi- 
ness. It is connected with the most animating 
duties; with the purest and most grateful enjoy- 
ments; with the most kindling and delightful 
associations. There is something, however, pre- 
eminently interesting connected with the first 
day and the first Sabbath in the year, and it 
ought to inspire emotions correspondingly plea- 
surable as well as powerful. 

The return of every Sabbath is, also, the ar- 
rival of a period in our individual and domestic 
history, which is peculiarly solemn. Viewed 
aright in the light of the Holy Scripture, and 
in the light of eternity, it is clothed with the 
deepest solemnity; but the first Sabbath in the 
year is one which is solemn in a preeminent 
degree. Thoughts are then awakened — feelings 



FIKST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 1S7 

are then excited — impressions are then made — 
and recollections are then induced, which rarely 
occur at any other period. 

Every Sabbath, moreover, is a time, an occa- 
sion of marked importance and significance; the 
events contemplated, the doctrines recurred to, 
the obligations imposed, the assemblies convened, 
the objects regarded, the responsibilities involved, 
combine in attaching to it the utmost value and 
moment; but the first Sabbath in the year is 
associated, unquestionably, with peculiar, with 
undefinable preciousness and importance. All 
who value the soul, who recognize the surpass- 
ing solemnity and moment of the revelations of 
Christianity, and who are impressed, as they 
should be, with the lapse of time, the brevity 
and fragility of life, the nearness, and the vast, 
tremendous issues of the future judgment, will, 
beyond question, think and feel in this manner. 
Let us then, on the arrival of this hallowed and 
memorable day, the first Sabbath in the year, 
cherish those sentiments, those affections, those 
anticipations, which ought to be called forth, 
and which must be awakened in connection with 
the experience and history of every intelligent 
and sincere Christian. 

It is a pertinent and significant inquiry, which 
we should do well, at this season, to ponder in 



138 FIRST SABBATH IK THE YEAH. 

the most serious manner: "How should the first 
Sabbath in the year be spent?" It is a special 
period, it therefore involves special duties — 
should induce a special train of thought and 
feeling — and should be connected with the for- 
mation and carrying out of special resolves. 

The first Sabbath in the year should be spent 
in the exercise of careful and solemn retrospec- 
tion. 

Recollection, diligent, comprehensive, and 
minute, should be brought into exercise. We 
must look back — there must be a survey taken 
of our past history, and especially during the 
preceding twelve months. We must review the 
conduct of an infinitely wise and gracious Pro- 
vidence towards us. We must attentively ob- 
serve the path in which the Lord our God has 
been leading us; and, if the retrospection of our 
history for the past year be appropriately pur- 
sued, what thoughts will be elicited ! what emo- 
tions will be inspired! what impressions, deep 
and most advantageous, will be induced! How 
many circumstances and events will occur to us 
of wants supplied, of light shed, of direction 
furnished, of strength vouchsafed, of support in 
trial administered, of deliverance from imminent 
and formidable peril bestowed, of special answers 
to prayer in the closet and the family granted! 



FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 139 

So that the review will be most consolatory, 
impressive and beneficial; while the mind is 
informed, counselled, and stimulated, the heart 
.will be sensibly and powerfully affected. 

Let, therefore, the first Sabbath in the year 
be a season of spontaneous and most grateful 
retrospection, and it will be one not only pro- 
perly spent, but of great and lasting benefit. 

The first Sabbath in the year should be 
entered on with deep humility. All pride must 
be checked, all self-complacency must be discoun- 
tenanced, all self-confidence must be brought 
down. In a word, all boasting must be excluded. 
When we look back, and review our history 
during the brief period of twelve months, how 
much is there to humble us! How much to 
occasion shame and self-mortification ! There 
is, confessedly, no room for self-praise; no 
ground for self-conceit or exultation. Quite 
the reverse. We can only place our hand on 
our lips, and our mouth in the dust, while self- 
prostration, and complete self-humiliation are 
indulged before God. During the past year 
how many things has the Lord seen within us 
and in connection with us, which have been 
most unworthy and most improper ! How many 
circumstances have we, if any of us are real 
Christians, seriously and bitterly to deplore! 



140 FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 

What coldness in religion! What indifference 
in prayer! What deficiencies in love! What 
worldliness of thought and feeling! What mix- 
ture of motive in celebrating divine worship! 
How little profit derived from the means of 
grace ! What defective zeal ! What partial and 
flagging obedience! What feeble and trifling 
efforts made to glorify the Saviour! How little 
self-consecration to the noblest and best of 
beings! Is this an erroneous statement? Is it 
an exaggerated representation ? By no means. 
Every believer in Christ Jesus, when dwelling 
on his past conduct and history, observes, "The 
thousandth part cannot be told. The sins of 
omission alone, during one year, are not merely 
great and accumulated, but they are perfectly 
boundless!'' 

The first Sabbath in the year should be spent 
in the exercise of unaffected and lively gratitude. 
No temper, at such a season, is more becom- 
ing and beautiful. No disposition, moreover, is 
more important and indispensable; and, we 
would add, is there any spirit, at such a period 
particularly, which should be more natural for 
us to unfold ? 

On the first Sabbath in the year every disci- 
ple of Christ, every child of Providence, every 
Christian pilgrim, should be busily employed in 



FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 141 

raising his " pillar of memorial" to heaven, and 
in engraving on it the memorable inscription — 
"Ebenezer!" singing joyously and thankfully, 
"Hitherto has the Lord helped me!" If we 
are not grateful at the close of the year, and 
at its commencement, we spontaneously inquire, 
When ought we to be grateful, and when shall 
we be grateful? 

Let, then, the first Sabbath in the year be 
one marked by peculiarly preeminent gratitude. 
Let the altar be early raised; let the offering be 
readily placed on it; let the flame of love and 
devotion ascend to heaven; and let the shout of 
joy and thanksgiving be heard. This is the tem- 
per which God will approve ; this is the spirit 
which the Saviour will appreciate and honour ; 
this is the conduct which the Holy Spirit will 
ratify and bless. Take up your harps, therefore, 
ye servants of the Most High, on the first Sab- 
bath morning in the year, and on them, in the 
sweetest and loudest strains, celebrate the praise 
of the Lord God of Israel ! 

The first Sabbath in the year should be spent 
under the influence of pensive and tender emo- 
tions. 

If the mind be properly constituted, and if the 
heart be suitably influenced and affected, these, 
at such a season especially, will be awakened. 
13 



142 FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 

At such a time, if at any period at all, reflection 
will be induced, memory will be exercised, and 
the heart will be "made soft." The close and 
the beginning of the year are, commonly, sea- 
sons of deep pensiveness — not, perhaps, gloomy 
or melancholy — but quiet, gentle, profound, and 
beneficial. 

When we rise on the first Sabbath morning in 
the year, and survey the events of the past 
twelve months, how much is there to render 
the mind pensive ! What changes have we our- 
selves experienced! What alternations in our 
domestic history ! What sorrows have we felt ! 
What losses have we sustained! What bereave- 
ments, perchance, have we realized ! What tears 
have we shed ! What strange vicissitudes have 
we undergone ! And yet, amidst all, how kindly 
have we been succoured ! — how wondrously have 
we been comforted and preserved ! 

We go to our seat in the sanctuary on the first 
Sabbath morning in the year, and look around — 
but how much is there to affect us ! How much 
to call forth deep and pensive emotion! There 
may be another minister in the pulpit; the voice 
of our late beloved teacher and guide may be 
silent in the grave. We survey the congrega- 
tion, and cannot but observe what changes death 
has effected in the short period of one year ! We 



FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 143 

look for some dear Christian friends and asso- 
ciates, who used to sit near us, and commune 
with us at the Lord's table — but they are gone ! 
Their bodies are mouldering in the grave; their 
spirits are with God. "We may even miss some 
from the very pew in which we have long wor- 
shipped ; perhaps some choice friend, some valued 
relative — it may be a husband, a wife, a brother, 
a sister, or a child. What a tale of vicissitudes 
in our congregations the circumstances and 
events of every year will furnish ! — and there- 
fore we cannot wonder that pensive and deep 
emotions, at such a period as the first Sabbath 
in the year, is spontaneously awakened. If we 
think and feel aright, we cannot be cold, care- 
less, flippant then. Even the very lapse of time 
itself is enough to make us all pensive and 
serious. 

The first Sabbath in the year should be spent 
in the spirit of prayer. It should be entered on 
under the influence of a devotional temper; and 
during the whole of the day this disposition 
should be specially cultivated. 

At no time is fervid prayer more becoming, 
more valuable, more necessary, than at this; 
and if ever we " wrestle" with "the Angel of 
the Covenant" for a blessing — a large, rich, full 
blessing — for a blessing on ourselves, our fami- 



144 FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 

lies, our ministers, our respective churches, our 
country, the cause of God throughout the world, 
we ought to do so on the first Sabbath morning 
in the year. What necessities will require to be 
supplied! What wisdom shall we need! What 
strength shall we demand! What guidance, 
consolation, succour, and deliverance shall we 
find indispensable during the year! To what 
duties shall we be called — in what situations 
shall we be placed — by what dangers shall we 
be surrounded — in what perplexities shall we be 
involved — to what temptations shall we be ex- 
posed — through what accumulated and extraor- 
dinary trials may numbers have to pass before 
the year reaches its close ! and therefore, dear 
reader, if ever you pray believingly, earnestly, 
affectionately, confidingly, importunately, do so 
at the beginning of the year. Let your special 
petitions be directed to heaven for clearer views 
of the gospel — for stronger faith in Christ — for 
warmer love to the Saviour — for more glowing 
zeal in the service of Immanuel — for more com- 
plete victory over the world — for readier and 
more unfaltering obedience — for more affection- 
ate and entire consecration to the Lord of 
glory. 

Let there be special supplications offered at 
the commencement of the year that your fami- 



FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 145 

lies may be crowned with the tokens of Divine 
regard — that all your children may "live before 
God." Let the Church of Christ be peculiarly 
remembered. Pray warmly that its light may 
increase — that its dross may be removed — that 
its value may be more appreciated — that its 
power may be more felt — that its influence may 
be more widely extended — that its blessings may 
be more richly enjoyed. 

Real prayer, fervent, continued, acceptable, 
successful prayer, on the first Sabbath in the 
year, will carry along with it signal tokens of 
Divine care, tenderness and love, during the 
ensuing days, weeks, and months of the year; 
but if there be little prayer at this season, if 
our petitions be few, cold, feeble, what can we 
expect throughout the year, but a blight — a 
moral and spiritual blight ? 

The first Sabbath of the year should be spent 
under the influence of strong and holy confidence 
in Grod. 

This temper should peculiarly mark and beau- 
tify us at such a season. It will meet with an 
ample recompense. It will be associated with 
all that can enrich, ennoble, and honour. Our 
confidence in God must be vigorous, enlightened, 
unfaltering. There must be no mistake, no 
13* 



146 FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 

hesitancy, no deviation. God will have our full 
reliance, if we are to receive a large blessing. 

Put then your entire trust in the Omnipotent, 
the all-sufficient Jehovah, especially at the be- 
ginning of the year. Repose strong confidence 
in him, that your daily bread will be given — 
your daily raiment be supplied — your daily 
comforts be continued — your daily sorrows be 
mitigated — your daily prayers be heard. Can 
you withhold this confidence at such a period ? 
It will be impossible, if you think and feel as 
you should. It will be exercised with all that 
simplicity, affectionateness, and strong faith 
which distinguish the children of God. Let 
your motto on the first Sabbath in the year be 
the following — you cannot have one more suita- 
ble or expressive — "I will trust, and not be 
afraid." 

The first Sabbath of the year should be spent 
with an enlightened and vigorous determination 
in relation to the future. 

There must be intelligent and holy resolves 
formed at such a period ; and, in reliance on 
Divine agency, they must be carried out; prac- 
tically and conscientiously exemplified during 
the year. And there must be one determina- 
tion, in particular, which each Christian must, 
on this first Sabbath in the year, deliberately 



FIRST SABBATH IN THE YEAR. 147 

utter, gratefully and joyfully renew — "I will 
walk before the Lord in the land of the living." 
I will live as in His presence. I will conduct 
myself as being under his immediate inspection. 
I will place myself under his control. I will 
devotedly implore his guidance. I will so walk 
as that, by Divine grace, I may approve myself 
before him. Every day and every hour through- 
out the year this fine resolve should be carried 
out. For who knows what may happen during 
the year? What clouds may gather — what ene- 
mies may assail — what perils may environ — what 
changes may occur? How completely is the 
future concealed from us! Besides, the present 
year may be the last to some — indeed, to many 
who read these pages. Prior, and it may be 
long prior to its termination, they may be in 
eternity, and be made acquainted with the 
secrets, with the solemn, the awful disclosures, 
of the invisible, the eternal world ! Their state 
may be fixed — their destiny sealed for ever! — 
yes, for ever ! 

Begin, therefore, dear readers, the year well. 
Let it not be commenced without much medita- 
tion, much prayer, and much simplicity and 
firmness of resolve: and especially be deter- 
mined humbly to walk with God, and before 
God. Then the days, the weeks, the months of 



148 HEAVENLY USE OP EARTHLY THINGS. 

the year, as they revolve, will bring to you rich 
and heavenly blessings. You will be prepared 
for every duty; you will be fitted for every 
change; and. whether ycu live or die during the 
year, you will be safe, you will be happy. All, 
in relation to eternity, will be secure, all will 
be well. Improve, improve, we beseech you, 
the first Sabbath in the current year, and let 
your devout and appropriate petition be the 
following: 

'•'Where Thou shalt settle mine abode, 
There would I choose to be; 
Tor. in thy presence, death is life, 

And earth is heaven with Thee. ; ' 



A HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 

Though I now enter on a new year, I know not, 
except by the calendar, the congratulations of 
friends, or the ringing of bells, that this is the 
commencement of a new era of time. For what 
is there in the face of nature to remind me of 
it? The weather is unchanged, the sun gives 
no new light. I feel myself the same; my 
friends look as usual: and unless I were aware 
that at some period the sun must be considered 



HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 149 

to renew its course, and that the same objections 
might be made to whatever season we fix upon, 
I should censure the custom of calling this the 
commencement of a new year. 

But when I enter on the first day of my hea- 
venly year, all will be new indeed. A brighter 
sun will then rise upon me, and commence an 
eternal course; for there I shall see it in all its 
glory, and be for ever with the Lord. Haste, 
glorious morn! Rise, Sun of Righteousness! 
let me see thy fresh beams gild the tops of the 
everlasting hills, shedding new lustre on all 
around! There the faces of all I behold will be 
illumined by those beams, and will appear glo- 
rious as so many suns, by reflecting the splen- 
dour, the purity and loveliness of it. Will nor 
this be a new-year's day? Alas! mv former 
years have often been obscured by clouds, which 
concealed my Saviour from my view, and have 
presented to me a thousand objects which reflect 
no ray of the Saviour's glory, but are all covered 
with the dark shadows of earth. 

In this also my first day in heaven will be 
new — that its morn will be succeeded by no 
night. All my former years were made up of 
nights as well as days. This new-year's day, 
though hailed with the congratulations, is short 
and dark, and followed by a night long and 



150 HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 

dreary ; but I hope to enter on a year new in- 
deed, made up all of day, for I read of a state 
of which it is said there shall be no night. 
There darkness and gloom shall, along with sin 
and death, be completely lost in the sunshine of 
God's favour, and mortality be swallowed up of 
life. 

On this new-year's day I meet many a kind 
friend, with benevolence in his eyes and good 
wishes on his lips, saying " A happy new-year 
to you." But when I enter on the new period 
of my existence alone, how much more warmly 
will I be welcomed ; how far higher gratulations 
will salute my ears! Ministering spirits will 
meet me on the morning of that day, and give 
me joy of my first day of holiness and bliss. 
Their eyes will speak the benevolence of their 
hearts; their salutations will proclaim how ar- 
dently they wish me blessed for ever. They 
will not, however, ask for me many happy re- 
turns of that day; for one such admission into 
Christ's presence will stamp with bliss a whole 
eternity. Then I shall enter into the temple of 
God, to go no more out for ever. Here the best 
wishes of friends are but impotent. While they 
ask for me many new-years, I may have seen 
my last; and that which they wish so happy 
may prove disastrous, for it may be wasted in 



HEAVENLY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. 151 

vanity or defiled by sin. But every welcome 
that shall meet me on my entrance into heaven 
will prove prophetic. Every friend that greets 
me there will be a minstrel, every minstrel a 
bard, each bard gifted with far distant sight, 
and all their inspiration will portend my bliss. 

Sweet as it is loud will be the burst of such 
gratulations, but still more delicious and more 
mighty the welcome of the Eternal King ; for as 
ray times are in his hand, and he dispenses days 
and vears according to his pleasure, how beatific 
his voice when it bids me enter into the joy of 
my Lord, and spend such a year as he himself 
now spends. 

Sweet is the existence the once afflicted Jesus 
enjoys. Since he rose from the dead, we ever 
after have kept Sabbath on that first day of the 
week; and when he entered heaven, his attend- 
ant spirits demanded entrance, saying, " Lift up 
your heads, ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye 
everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall 
come in." Heaven celebrated its new year of 
consummate bliss. He now sees the travail of 
his soul, and is satisfied; and when he admits 
me to share his bliss, I shall ask no more returns 
of new years, for my years will never grow old. 
What eternally satisfies Christ, will never pall 
upon my taste. Bliss, ever new to him, will 



152 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

retain all its power to entrance, exalt, and 
satisfy my soul. Shall I then say, Away with 
the new years of earth; I want not many 
returns — the fewer the better, until I see my 
Lord? No! all the days of my appointed time 
will I wait, till my change come. But I will 
say, Welcome, thrice welcome this current year, 
for thou art nearer to Christ and to heaven than 
the last year! Welcome all the days that yet 
await me, for Jesus sends them to bear me on 
their wings to the bosom of my Lord! But 
welcome most last year, for that will prove my 
best; handing me forward to the presence of 
Him whom my soul longs to see, that I may 
spend eternal years in his presence, where there 
is fulness of joy; and at his right hand, where 
there are pleasures for evermore. 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

"Another year has flown away — 
Eternity has swallowed all : — its scenes, 
Its changes, sorrows, joys — all which saddened 
Or enlivened, are gone, and gone for ever ! 
How must this commence?" — Voice of the Tears. 

In entering on a new era of our existence, we 
commence a season of deep and peculiar solem- 



BEGINNING THE NEW TEAK WELL. 153 

mty, especially when we contemplate the duties 
which it may involve, the trials which may be 
realized during its continuance, and the bereave- 
ments which may be sustained; it therefore be- 
hoves us, as reflective and responsible beings, to 
approach it and enter on it under the influence 
of pensive and serious emotions, and not with 
the thoughtlessness, the flippancy, and the merri- 
ment of the fool. 

The period, moreover, when we enter on 
another revolving year, and that year compre- 
hending so much which is eventful to us in the 
present life, and bearing so closely, and, indeed, 
inseparably on the future and eternal existence 
to which we are looking forward, is one asso- 
ciated with great and awful responsibility; and 
we cannot commence it aright without a sense of 
that responsibility being most powerfully felt, 
and prompting to the performance of every in- 
cumbent duty, as well as to bold and courageous 
grappling with every difficulty, temptation, and 
adversary. In the providence of God we are 
spared to witness the flight of the past year, and 
to hail the arrival of the present; and it is of 
the utmost moment that we should form and 
express our individual and solemn determination, 
namely, that we ivill begin the year well. 

This resolution is most proper and wise; 
14 



154 BEGINNING THE ITBW YEAR WELL. 

nothing can be more becoming, rational, and 
just. This determination is most expedient and 
desirable — nothing can be more connected with 
our happiness, or conducive, in every sense, to 
our best interests. This resolve is most import- 
ant and necessary, that character may be exem- 
plified, that conduct may be regulated and 
improved, that excellence may be attained and 
increased. It is a resolution, however, which 
must spring from enlightened sentiments, which 
must be guided and moulded by the word of 
God, and which must be expressed and main- 
tained, not in our own strength, in dependence 
on our own unaided resources, but in simple, in 
unhesitating reliance on the omnipotence of that 
Spirit, who by his grace will fit us for every 
scene, prepare us for every labour, uphold us 
under every trial, whatever its pungency. 

Now, to begin the year well, we must com- 
mence it with solemn retrospection. W~e must 
look back. TTe must carefully review our past 
history. We must impartially scrutinize our 
past conduct. We must " remember the way in 
which the Lord our God has been leading us," 
however rugged, intricate and trying that way 
might have been felt or deemed by us. We 
must attentively mark the dealings, the varied 
arrangements of Divine Providence, and see how, 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 155 

with everything pleasing or painful, under every 
aspect, luminous or dark, all events have been 
necessary for us, and all designed for our good. 

We must recur to the scenes of the past year, 
so chequered, and frequently so gloomy and 
lurid ; we must dwell on the temptations of the 
year, often so powerful and seducing — on the 
difficulties of the year, marked frequently by 
extreme breadth and intricacy — on the afflic- 
tions, the sicknesses of the year, not only nu- 
merous and painful, but sometimes, perhaps, 
almost overwhelming. We must review the mer- 
cies of the year, and observe how our tables 
have been supplied, how our lives have been 
preserved, how our families have been blest, 
how our fears have been removed, and how 
every desirable communication has been im- 
parted. 

We must consider how we have been aided 
while discharging the duties of the past year — 
personal, domestic, relative engagements — what- 
ever might have been their arduousness, compli- 
cation, or importance. 

We can never commence the year properly 
without this solemn retrospection, and especially 
without looking back to observe and lament the 
multiplied deficiencies, irregularities, and defec- 
tions before God, with which we have been 



156 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

chargeable, and to admire and adore his for- 
bearing mercy in " healing our backslidings," 
" pitying our infirmities,'' and forgiving our sins. 

To begin the year well, we must commence it 
with large and enlightened inquiries. The mind 
must be drawn out; the soul must be awakened; 
great thoughts must be elicited and enkindled. 
No little, paltry sentiments must be entertained, 
no mean, insignificant questions must be pro- 
posed. As the years are rolling over us, their 
significance and grandeur are continually in- 
creasing, and hence it devolves on us to endea- 
vour to meet their claims, and to act worthily of 
their character and importance. 

In entering, then, on the year, let us take 
large and comprehensive views; let us propose 
intelligent and great inquiries, that we may 
unfold a character befitting us at the present 
advancing period in our ecclesiastical and na- 
tional history, and do something worthily in this 
age of progress. 

Let each reader seriously ask, "What am I 
purposing to do, if life be prolonged during the 
present year? "What as a minister? What as 
a parent? What as a teacher of the young? 
What as a master or mistress? What as a 
brother or sister ? What as a child ? What in 
any capacity — as a Scripture reader, tract dis- 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 157 

tributor, a visitor of the poor and sick? What 
fresh plans can I form to benefit my family 
more effectually? What additional arrange- 
ments can I make to subserve the best interests 
of the church and congregation with which I 
am identified? What enlargement and impetus 
can I give to any efforts which are making for 
the intellectual and moral elevation of my coun- 
try, the evangelization of Europe and the world? 
Knowledge must be more widely diffused; infi- 
delity must be more vigorously met; error in all 
its forms must be more decisively counteracted; 
Romanism, whatever its seductions or appliances, 
must be more wisely and powerfully resisted. 
What can I do, or what do I intend doing in 
this great, this gigantic undertaking? These 
are fitting and significant questions to propose 
and urge at the commencement of another year; 
and it is incumbent on each right-minded, each 
sound-hearted person, to submit them to his 
understanding, his judgment, his conscience, as 
in the sight of God, and in the prospect of his 
awful account at the last day. 

To begin the year well, we must commence it 
under the influence of a devotional spirit. This 
is indispensable on the part of every individual, 
whatever his position in society, to its right begin- 
ning. There must be no mistake here, no reluct- 
14* 



158 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

ance here, no neglect here. "While we want the 
mind to be aroused, the best efforts to be put 
forth, we are preeminently anxious that the heart 
should be moulded and sanctified by the Spirit 
of God, We want the affections to be raised to 
heaven, and to be enkindled with fire from the 
celestial altar. We want God to be emphatically 
sought, his aid to be implored, his presence and 
blessing to be enjoyed in all things. We there- 
fore need, at the present crisis in our history, a 
general and fine development of the spirit of 
prayer. All, at the beginning of the year, must 
pray, and we must all pray more. Our suppli- 
cations must be more frequent, more direct, more 
fervid, more agonizing. We must wrestle, and 
continue to wrestle in prayer, until we have the 
blessing. What light can be scattered without 
prayer? What error can be checked without 
prayer? What enemies can be discomfited and 
put to shame without prayer? How can indi- 
viduals be blessed without prayer? How can 
sinners be awakened and brought to God with- 
out prayer? How can the peace, the holiness, 
and the enlargement of the Church of Christ be 
secured without prayer, and much prayer? 

Let us, in entering on the year, prefer more 
simple, fervent, and concentrated prayers than we 
have ever yet done. May the true " Spirit of 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 159 

grace and supplication" rest upon us in all our 
characters, all the relations of life, and for the 
general good ! then, a special benediction from 
Heaven will rest upon us, upon all our plans, 
efforts, and instrumentality. The prayer of a 
whole people, at the commencement of the year, 
must issue in copious and signal blessings during 
its continuance, and throughout succeeding years. 
To begin the year well, we must commence it 
with unlimited submissio?i to the will of Gfod. 
There must be no distrust of his care, his fideli- 
ty, his goodness. There must be no want of 
confidence in his wise and paternal administra- 
tion. There must be no dissatisfaction with his 
allotments or arrangements. There must be no 
murmuring against his procedure. We cannot 
commence the year wisely and well unless this 
spirit be felt and displayed. God must be sub- 
mitted to from the first day of the year to the 
last; and our submission must be enlightened, 
unqualified, and devotional. It must be the 
submission of disciples to their Teacher, of sub- 
jects to their Sovereign, of children to their 
wise and benignant Father in heaven. We 
know not what clouds may encircle us, what 
difficulties may perplex us, what dangers may 
environ us, what enemies may assail us, what 
changes may depress us during the year; but 



160 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

this we know, that if submission to God be exer- 
cised, and if our submission be enlightened, 
child-like, and uncomplaining, we shall be able 
to exclaim, "All is right! — all is well, and all 
must be well! — the end will fully justify the Di- 
vine arrangements and procedure. " Begin the 
year, then, dear reader, animated and imbued 
with this fine temper, and you will realize, while 
it advances, its blessed, its glorious results — re- 
sults which will exert the happiest influence, not 
only on your minds and characters, but prove of 
the utmost importance to your families and to 
the Church of God. 

To begin the year well, we must commence it 
with a determination, if life should be prolonged, 
for the advancement of the glory of Christ. We 
must take no lower aim; we must propose no 
inferior object; we must be prompted by no 
other motive ; we must be impelled by no other 
desire. The hours of the year, the days of the 
year, the weeks of the year, and the months of 
the year, as they successively glide away, are 
all to be consecrated to the Redeemer, that his 
name may be magnified, that his honour may be 
subserved, that his grace may be exalted, that 
his purposes of infinite love and mercy may be 
accomplished. 

This is the right use of life; this is its true 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR, WELL. 161 

and sublime improvement. The question should 
be with each reader, at the beginning of the 
year, "What can I do for the Saviour while it 
continues? How may I diffuse his gospel, ex- 
tend his kingdom, and be the instrument of still 
more widely disseminating the blessings of his 
free salvation? This is to be my grand busi- 
ness, my uniform, my one aim." 

When the year is thus begun, with a fixed 
and enlightened resolve to glorify Christ Jesus, 
it becomes a year of prayer, a year of effort, a 
year of usefulness, a year of sublime and holy 
ends. Much is anticipated, much is done, much 
is enjoyed. How is it with you, dear readers, 
in these respects? Are you all disposed, all 
qualified, all determined to glorify the Son of 
God, the Redeemer of the world, at the com- 
mencement of another year? and are you in- 
tensely anxious to spend the year in such a 
manner as that " He who in all things is to have 
preeminence," may be supremely honoured? 
Happy the person who can at once respond, 
66 This is my sincere, my high, my only aspira- 
tion." 

Now, if we begin the year well, in the manner, 
and governed by the spirit and principles to 
which we have referred, we shall realize great 
and precious advantages. For example — we 



162 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

shall have the testimony of a good conscience 
during the year; and this is no ordinary, no 
insignificant blessing. The testimony of an ap- 
proving conscience, as the months revolve, will 
be clear, direct, full, and most satisfactory; 
and, as Matthew Henry observes, "It is a good 
thing to have the bird in the bosom singing 
sweetly. ,, 

If we thus begin the year, we shall be pre- 
pared for all the duties and events of the year. 
The duties to which we may be called this year 
may be more diversified and arduous than ever, 
sometimes extraordinary; still there will be 
seasonable and requisite qualifications bestowed, 
as they successively recur. The events of the 
year may, in many respects, be new, be stirring, 
and most important; still, we shall be fitted for 
their approach, and for their daily and con- 
tinual realization, while we see the hand of God 
in all. 

If we thus begin the year, we shall be divinely 
supported amidst all its trials; and this will be 
to us no trifling boon, no ordinary blessing, to 
have the mind kept in a tranquil and happy 
state, when experiencing one affliction and an- 
other; and to find, as one circumstance of dis- 
tress and sorrow and another may be occurring, 
that there is a fountain of living consolation to 



BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 163 

which we can repair, and the pellucid and celes- 
tial waters of which we can continually drink. 

If we thus begin the year, we shall be secured 
amidst all the perils of the year. Whether those 
perils may be seen or unseen; whether they 
arise from enemies without or within ; whether 
they spring from the world or the devil ; whether 
they may be connected with our position in the 
family, or society generally, we shall be per- 
petually shielded by the providence of God, and 
fortified by the grace of God; that providence 
will succour us invariably; that grace will pre- 
serve us effectually. 

And be it remembered, that if commencing 
the year under the influence of the spirit incul- 
cated and recommended, we should be removed 
by death before the year terminate, we shall 
only be translated to that world where 

" Life's unbroken joy begins, 
And life's unending Sabbath reigns — 
The peace and rest of heaven." 

The journey of mortality will only come to a 
close. The stream of the present shadowy ex- 
istence will be crossed, and the wide, unbounded 
ocean of immortality will be entered, where we 
shall realize a fulness of bliss which will never 
be interrupted and never cloy. 



164 BEGINNING THE NEW YEAR WELL. 

When the above considerations are regarded, 
how important does human life in all its phases, 
all its aspects, all its duties, all its temptations, 
all its difficulties, all its discipline, appear! 
How solemn its beginning, its continuance, its 
close! How pregnant with great issues; how 
inevitably resulting in a tremendous and change- 
less doom! How necessary to be seriously con- 
templated; to be soberly anticipated, as its years 
approach; to be diligently prepared for; and 
for the end, the awful end, to be weighed ! 

" Life begun is solemn; 
But what awe surrounds it, when its close 
Draws nigh! Then, all shadows flee away, 
And everything is real — is awful!" 

How true is the remark, that "our life is full 
of mysteries, though its events seem so vulgar 
and of every-day occurrence !" There is mys- 
tery in its beginning, in its duration here, in its 
ends, in its impulses, its sympathies, its cares, 
its vicissitudes, its temptations, and the endlessly 
chequered scenes associated with it. Life, with 
which so many trifle, which multitudes never 
seriously regard, is the most solemn and myste- 
rious thing imaginable. And how does it behove 
every intelligent and immortal being, as it is 
passing so rapidly away, to inquire, What is my 



BEGINNING THE HEW YEAR WELL. 165 

life? How am I spending it? How and where 
will it end? 

See to it, we beseech you, reader, that when 
with you life shall be finished, the work of life 
shall be clone, its true business executed, its 
true end accomplished. 

'•Life is the time to serve the Lord." 

Properly and continually improve that time. 
Ask now, at the commencement of the year, 
before your eyes turn away from the pages you 
are reading — i4 Should I die during the Tear 
will eternity be prepared for? will the goal be 
run? will the prize be gained? will the rest of 
heaven be enjoyed? will the crown of celestial 
glory be mine to wear, and that, too, for ever, in 
the presence of God and the Lamb?" Let this 
year, we entreat you, dear reader, be one of 
preeminent devotedness to God. 

Join, we request, we implore you, in the fol- 
lowing simple but beautiful aspiration: 

f -0 let qui lives, great <_-: :I. breathe : : 

A constant melc >: 
And every action be a note 
In the sweet hymn to Thee!" 



15 



166 LOOKING FORWARD. 



LOOKING FORWARD. 

"Mark how my time speeds on! 
I eannot check its course. It hurries by 
With more than lightning flight. may the thought 
Impel me too; and while upwards my gaze 
I turn, onwards let me press \" 

The past has been a memorable year — most 
memorable: one, in the history of thousands of 
families, and of the entire community, which 
will not be soon forgotten — can it ever? A 
year distinguished most signally by the Divine 
goodness, the blessings communicated by which 
have been the most varied, abundant, beneficent, 
surprising; and one characterized also by the 
Divine judgments having been abroad — "the 
pestilence that walketh in darkness — the de- 
struction that wasteth at noon-day — terror by 
night — the arrow that flieth by day." The mor- 
tality prevailing in some portions of our country 
during the last year has been not only great, 
but fearful. Many countenances have been sad- 
dened, many hearts grieved — and we wondered 
when "the plague" would cease, when the pesti- 
lence would check its ravages. God, however, 
in the fulness of his mercy, has heard prayer. 



LOOKING FORWARD. 1G7 

The dire visitations of heaven have been re- 
moved. Sorrow has been turned into joy, the 
tokens of grief into the expressions of praise; 
and now we can "sing of mercy," rich, sove- 
reign, abundant mercy, instead of talking of 
judgment. Let us therefore enter on the pre- 
sent year aright, with no gloomy, dejected, 
unbecoming emotions. Let the voice of grati- 
tude be uttered. Let the song of thanksgiving 
be sweetly and loudly expressed. Let the in- 
cense of the deeply grateful heart be poured 
forth, and let it ascend immediately to heaven, 
to evince how we think and feel at the com- 
mencement of another momentous era in our 
history as a community — in our existence as a 
guilty, but highly-favoured nation. 

While we look back, however, let us not do it 
despondingly, whatever the mortality which has 
prevailed, the bereavements which have been 
experienced, the desolations which have been 
felt in so many quarters; let us also look up, 
under the influence of the most devout and 
enkindling emotions. Let the soul ascend at 
once to that gracious and divine Benefactor, who 
has done for us "such great things and marvel- 
lous, whereof we are glad;" and let us tell Him 
that we are determined to "show forth his 
praise." 



168 LOOKING FORWARD. 

And moreover, while we look up with every 
appropriate sentiment and feeling, let us be 
resolved to "look forward." Let the eye of 
faith penetrate the future. Let the anticipa- 
tions of lively hope and confidence be cherished; 
and let us enter this year cultivating the spirit 
of Christianity, adhering to the principles of the 
gospel, and clinging to the expectations and 
assurances of the New Testament, more vigor- 
ously and more earnestly than ever. 

Let us look forward to the duties, the events, 
the movements of the year with becoming 
seriousness, with all the gravity of reflecting, 
accountable, immortal beings; with all those 
feelings of appropriate solemnity awakened, 
when we contemplate our character, our position, 
the uncertainty of our tenure below, and our 
boundless and awful destiny. Let there be no 
trifling disposition — no volatile frame of mind, 
which is as little as unworthy. A dignified 
seriousness is the spirit with which we should 
enter on the year. 

Let us look forward with gratitude. Let us be 
thankful for past interpositions, so decisive, so 
frequent, remarkable; and believing that ex- 
pressions of the Divine goodness and mercy will 
be continually vouchsafed to us during the year. 
Y\ r hen we dwell on the Divine encouragements 



LOOKING FORWARD. 169 

and assurances which are afforded, as year after 
year returns, we cannot be too grateful; and, as 
the Lord is " crowning the year with his good- 
ness," and his "paths are dropping fatness" 
upon us, let songs of unmingled and universal 
thankfulness be celebrated. 

Let us look forward with confidence. We shall 
not be disregarded; we shall not be unsheltered; 
w r e shall not be forgotten. The wants of the 
year will be supplied; the difficulties of the year 
will be removed; the dangers of the year will 
be averted; the afflictions and bereavements of 
the year will be chastened and sanctified; the 
illnesses and diseases of the year will be miti- 
gated, healed, and rendered useful, and all de- 
sirable blessings for the year will be freely and 
munificently imparted; therefore look forward 
with confidence — that confidence will not be dis- 
appointed — it cannot be put to shame. 

Let us look forward with humility, from a 
conviction of our utter unworthiness. There 
must be no undue opinion of ourselves, no self- 
inflation or self-complacency; indeed, there must 
be an absolute renunciation of self. 

Recurring to the Divine visitations of the past 

year, let us humble ourselves deeply before God 

our Maker and our Judge, this year. Let him 

see that we are truly and profoundly humble 

15* 



170 LOOKING FORWARD. 

when our ignorance is contemplated, when our 
unworthiness is felt, when our deficiency and 
little progress in the right way are considered. 

Let us look forward with submission. We 
know not what may occur this year, what " cup 
of bitterness" may be put into our hands; what 
dark and portentous clouds may surround us as 
a nation; what changes, great and paralyzing, 
may be realized; what instances of mortality 
may present themselves before us, to sadden or 
surprise. Still, let us be submissive, unfeignedly 
and completely submissive. No complaints must 
be heard; no fretfulness must be indulged; no 
unyielding temper must be cherished. We must 
bow to the yoke, submit to the chastisement, 
acquiesce in the Divine purpose and arrange- 
ment. We must acknowledge before God that 
all is right, that all is good, that all is necessary. 

Let us look forward in the true spirit of 
prayer. We must commence the present year 
with a highly devotional temper, and that tem- 
per must characterize and sanctify us through- 
out the year. It will prepare us for every duty, 
fit us for every event, sustain us in every sorrow, 
and fortify and cheer us in the prospect of 
every change. If we want to prosper this year 
we must pray more. Prayer must be distin- 
guished by greater intelligence, fervidness, point, 



LOOKING FORWARD. 171 

comprehensiveness, frequency, power. As a com- 
munity, we should learn, especially from the 
events of the past year, to abound more in 
prayer; to cry more intensely and mightily 
unto God, that he would appear, deliver, and 
bless. As a nation, we are yet comparative 
strangers to wrestling and prevailing prayer. 

Let us look forward with simple reliance on 
Divine agency. Let us implicitly confide in the 
Holy Spirit, that we shall be aided when we 
need succour; that our resources, mental, moral, 
and religious, will not fail; that strength from 
above will be communicated " equal to our day" ; 
that we shall be fitted for every emergency; 
that we shall be directed in every difficulty; 
that we shall be shielded in every danger; that 
we shall be preserved in every hour of perilous 
temptation; that we shall be consoled in every 
situation of trial, and find that God, our Saviour, 
is dispersing all our fears. This unhesitating 
reliance on Divine agency will be a source of 
exquisite support and comfort to us during the 
year, and will be a powerful incentive to every 
holy and important duty. 

Let us look forward with hope: not with de- 
pression — much less, with despondency. This 
would be most undesirable, most ungrateful, 
most improper, and also most paralyzing. God 



172 LOOKING FORWARD. 

has done great things for us already, and he will 
do more, and perhaps greater and more marvel- 
ous still ; therefore we must hope, hope strongly, 
hope on continually. We must sow in hope, 
plan in hope, pray in hope, labour in hope, sor- 
row in hope, wait on God privately and publicly 
in hope — assured of this, that our hope will not 
be disappointed. It will be realized largely and 
delightfully, and probably in a much happier 
and more glorious manner than we ever antici- 
pated, or could have expected; for God loves to 
dissipate the fears, and not only to gratify, but 
to surpass the hopes of his people, especially 
in times of peculiar difficulty, exigency, and 
trial. 

This is the spirit, dear reader, with which we 
should begin the year. We should cherish no 
other temper, exhibit no other principles, form 
and carry out no other resolves. If these are 
our predominating sentiments and feelings, the 
present year will be a year of progress. It will 
not be one during which we shall remain sta- 
tionary. This cannot be the case. We shall 
pursue steadily our onward course; we shall 
make decisive and noble advances. Character 
will be more luminously and beautifully unfolded. 
Our religious experience will be marked by a 
greater breadth, elevation and power. Our his- 



LOOKING FORWARD. 173 

tory, as a nation, will be socially, morally, reli- 
giously, much more striking and encouraging. 
If the spirit we have inculcated be displayed, it 
will be a year of effort — effort of every kind; 
effort in every department; effort for God; effort 
for the glory of Christ our Lord; effort to benefit 
and bless our fellow-creatures. We shall deter- 
mine to labour, and not to be indolent — not to 
trifle. Our labour too w T ill be freely, vigorous- 
ly, regularly performed — performed from love, 
having the highest objects in view. 

If the sentiments we are anxious should be 
cultivated are exemplified, this year will be a 
year of usefulness, We shall not plan, labour, 
strive together in vain. Prayer will be heard, 
confidence will be honoured, active effort will be 
crowned with success. Many, through us, will 
receive a blessing. The year will not pass with- 
out some tokens, and perhaps most significant, 
of the Divine approval being furnished us. 

If the temper recommended be everywhere 
exhibited, it will be a year of happiness — great 
and exalted happiness. "The peace of God" 
will pervade the mind, the joy of the gospel will 
tranquillize and animate the soul. We shall have 
the felicity arising from the Divine presence and 
regard; and, whatever the occurrences, the fluc- 
tuations, the difficulties, the sorrows of the year, 



174 THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 

we shall be "kept in perfect peace, staying the 
mind" calmly and supremely on Heaven; and 
on the paternal wisdom, benediction, and un- 
ceasing care of our God, our Benefactor, our 
Redeemer. 



THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 

"One thing is needful." These are the words 
of Him who spake as never man spake. If we 
can form to ourselves any conception of the 
majesty, yet the benignity — the mildness, yet 
the force of our Lord's reproof to Martha, let 
us endeavour to lay it to heart. 

He evidently contrasted the one indispensa- 
ble object with the many things by which Mar- 
tha's attention was divided, and her temper 
agitated. The fault is too common, even among 
those of whom we hope things (as of her) that 
accompany salvation, to need explanation. Her 
immediate temptation to it was much serving. 
It is the only instance in which the family of 
Lazarus is adverted to by any of the first three 
Evangelists, and it might be the first occasion 
on which our Lord was accompanied to Bethany 
by all his disciples. The family was respect- 



THE ONE THING NEEDFUL, 175 

able and hospitable. The Jews from the fes- 
tival at Jerusalem crowded to see one who was 
raised from the grave. Much provision might 
be needful, but Martha indulged needless anx- 
iety, perhaps, about their variety, their delicacy 
and their arrangement. Is nothing like this 
ever apparent at the hospitable meetings of 
Christian friends. A substantial, but more sim- 
ple entertainment would, doubtless, have been 
more acceptable to Christ, and ought it not 
be so to his people. Profusion cannot but im- 
pede beneficence. It is unlikely that Mary 
would have neglected to help her sister in any- 
thing that was really wanted; and still more so 
if she had, that our Saviour would have com- 
mended her. She was imbibing his invaluable 
instructions, while Martha was bustling, fretting, 
and complaining against her to their dearest 
and greatest Friend. How must Martha have 
been humbled, and Mary encouraged by his 
award. 

Mary, then, it appears, had chosen this one 
thing needful, from which her sister's attention 
had been diverted by many things. Let us 
rejoice that it was not to be taken from her; 
for assuredly no more shall it be taken from 
any. who choose it as their portion. But what 
is it? We cannot, with our Lord's personal 



176 THE OHI THING NEEDFUL. 

friends and followers, sit at Lis feet and listen 
to the gracious words that always flowed from 
his lips. Neither tould any of them at all times 
enjoy that privilege; but Mary's conduct, at 
that time, was the effect of her habitual choice 
of the one thing needful, and it is well when 
our 8 equally tends to the attainment of it. 

Pious and learned men have variously defined 
the one thing needful; but the difference are 
those of sound, rather than of sense. Admitting 
men to be in a lost condition, salvation is the 
one thing needful for all. Its foundation was 
laid before that of the world, to which it related 
by God's election of grace, to save sinners 
through the sacrifice of his Son, who, in the 
fullness of time, became incarnate, gave himself 
for us, to endure the death of the cross, and 
bore the chastisement of our peace, that we, 
through his stripes might be healed. But these 
facts, like all in the performance of which we 
have had no share, can only be beneficial to us 
by the effect which our belief of them produces 
in our mind and conduct. To this purpose, the 
grace of God as manifested by the sanctifying 
influence of the Holy Spirit, is no less needful 
than it was, as "manifested by the sacrifice of 
the Son of God for the pardon of all past 
offences. This, therefore, to each of us is the 



THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 177 

one thing needful, that the love of God should 
be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. 
This drew Mary to the feet of Jesus, to listen 
to his doctrine; the want of this gave scope to 
the cares and passions of Martha. 

Let us try ourselves by this test. Have our 
minds ever been harassed and perplexed by con- 
troversial reading, till the Scriptures themselves 
seemed to us either unintelligible or of doubtful 
authority? What was it that at once banished 
all our anxieties on the subject, and left us as 
incapable of doubting the truth of Scripture 
as our own existence? — the love of God shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. 

In times of imminent danger, what has raised 
us above personal fear, and turned our dismay 
into a joy unspeakable and full of glory? and 
while this has been mingled with earnest inter- 
cession for others evidently unfit for eternity, 
yet likely every moment, with ourselves, to 
plunge into its abyss, what has assured us that 
our cries and tears for their preservation were 
accepted of God ? — His love shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost. 

In weeks of motionless confinement to a bed 
of disease, what has incapacitated us to form a 
wish for relief, or for any change from what we 
16 



ITS THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 

then were? — the love of God shed abroad in our 
hearts by the Holy Ghost. 

When overwhelmed by sudden distress, or loss 
attended by permanent and even irreparable 
damage — prostrated before God in dismay and 
terror, by the violence of these unlooked-for 
strokes of his rod — what has said, " Peace, be 
still: and immediately there was a great calm"': 
Other things, while these trials continued, you 
could not be anxious about; no more were you 
about these, while the love of God was shed 
abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost. 

But now, perhaps, you find your strength to 
be perfect weakness. Accumulated infirmities, 
complicated diseases, have reduced your mind 
to a srate in which it is distressingly agitated: 
when you can hardly tell the cause, though its 
effects in the aggravation of bodily diseases is 
perfectly felt. Such a state is, perhaps, equally 
beyond help from rational exertion, or friendly 
consolation ; but it is not beyond the reach of 
the one thing needful. The Holy Ghost can 
even then diffuse the love of God in the heart. 
and nothing more is wanted. Let things be as 
they may. this will assimilate earth to heaven. 
" Therefore being justified by faith, we have 
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom also we have access, by faith, into the 



SPIRITUAL ARITHMETIC. 179 

grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of 
the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory 
in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation 
worketh patience, and patience experience, and 
experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed." 
Or our hope of the glory of God cannot be ill- 
founded, because the love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given 
to us. We need, infinitely need this; we need 
nothing besides, for it is the one thing needful. 



SPIRITUAL ARITHMETIC. 

*• SO TEACH TS TO NUMBER OER DAYS THAT WE MAY APPLY 
OER HEARTS UNTO WISDOM." 

The science of numbers is extremely valuable, 
both in the pursuits of philosophy and the busi- 
ness of secular life. It guides the astronomer 
among the starry fields, and enables him to cal- 
culate the magnitude and the distances of the 
heavenly bodies, and there teaches him the 
power, goodness, and faithfulness of God. Thus 
God instructed Abraham to view the heavens. 
"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, 
Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if 
thou be able to number them. And he said 
unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he be- 



180 SPIRITUAL ARITHMETIC. 

lieved in the Lord (that is, in his power, good- 
ness, and faithfulness,) and he counted it to him 
for righteousness." 

But the important science of numbers is no 
less applicable to all the purposes of human life, 
for all our temporal blessings are delivered out 
to us in number, weight, and measure, and none 
more sparingly than our time; for we never have 
two moments, much less days, together. Hence 
the importance of this spiritual arithmetic, that 
we may " so number our days, as to apply our 
hearts unto wisdom." To apply our hearts unto 
wisdom is to enter into the study with zeal and 
energy, or (in the English phrase) with all our 
hearts. It is a common expression with stu- 
dents, when they enter on a subject of serious 
difficulty, that they will apply their brains to it; 
but the Hebrew idiom is both more beautiful 
and proper — they applied their hearts to it. 
Thus the wise man — "Apply thine heart to 
understanding." The heart is a better tablet 
than the brain, because it receives the impression 
deeper, and retains it longer. " My son, keep 
my commandments; write them on the table of 
thine heart, and let thine heart retain my 
words." 

Now then let us, with the Psalmist, apply our 
hearts to wisdom, and especially to this branch 
of it — calculating or measuring our days. 



SPIRITUAL ARITHMETIC. 181 

Let us calculate the number of our days. Let 
us calculate their uncertainty. Few as the days 
of man are, how very few of our race come up 
to the limited number of three-score years and 
ten. Narrow as is our span, how few fill up 
that space. The majority of our race die in 
infancy — at least in immature age. Our ceme- 
teries contain coffins of a span long, and there 
is no age within a century that is not inscribed 
on one or the other of our tombstones; and of 
the living, we may say with Watts, 

" Where is the man that draws his breath 
Safe from disease, secure from death." 

Let us estimate the importance of our days, 
both as compared with the work assigned to 
them, and the end to which they lead. We are 
sinners, and these are the days of penitence and 
pardon. We are ignorant creatures, and these 
are the days allotted for our instruction. We 
are labourers, and this is the period allotted for 
our work — "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do," says Solomon, "do it with all thy might;" 
and greater than Solomon hath said, "Work 
while it is day, for the night cometh when no 
man can work." We are to work for ourselves, 
for we are commanded to work out our own sal- 
vation with fear and trembling, knowing that it 
16* 



182 SPIRITUAL ARITHMETIC. 

is God who worketh in us of his own good plea- 
sure. We are to work for God, knowing that 
we shall not labour in vain for the Lord. 

We are to work for our fellow-creatures, to 
be not weary in well-doing, knowing that in due 
time, we shall reap if we faint not. But time is 
to us chiefly important as it relates to eternity; 
it is, indeed, a narrow isthmus, but it connects 
us with eternity. " I paint for immortality," said 
a celebrated artist, and thus may the Christian 
say in all that he does. He repents, believes, 
and for eternity, and if he gives, he gives for eter- 
nity ; for though it be but a cup of cold water, the 
Judge himself will not forge it when he ascends 
his throne. The box of ointment bestowed on 
Jesus by Mary of Bethany, met the censure of 
more than one of the apostles, but received the 
plaudit of their Lord, " Verily, I say unto you, 
wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in 
the whole world, there shall also this, that this 
woman hath done, be told, for a memorial of 
her." It has already been echoed through the 
known world. 

One word more — we need a teacher in this 
important science. God only teacheth us to 
profit, and there is none teacheth like him. " So 
teach us, Lord, to number our days that we 
may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 



SWEET MEDITATION. 183 



MY MEDITATION OF HIM SHALL BE 
SWEET. 

Thus David sung, and my soul shall utter her 
responses to his harp. Sweet indeed should be 
my meditation on that Being, who comprises in 
himself all that is venerable in antiquity, what- 
ever is grand in dignity; all that is mighty in 
power, lovely in beauty, or tender in grace; 
while He is to me the parent of being, the donor 
of property, and the spring of bliss. 

At the commencement of a new year, I cannot 
but muse on Him who at first gave me this being, 
which he continually renews. But, ! what 
awe and wonder must mingle with the sweetness 
of my reflections on the name — Creator ! For 
it reminds me that there was a time, and that 
not very far distant, when I was nothing; I was 
not; I never had been in existence! A vast 
eternity had rolled away without me. Ere Time 
indeed had begun his first new year, God had 
an eternity above. But even when he had 
uttered the almighty jiat, and countless worlds, 
with all their diversified inhabitants, had started 
up, and echoed to his creative voice, "Here we 



184 SWEET MEDITATION. 

are, to serve and please;" and when they glori- 
fied him for hundreds and thousands of years, I 
was not among them, but all was to me the blank, 
mysterious night of nonexistence. At length 
arrived the appointed moment, to me big with 
importance, when I was to take my turn of 
entrance into being; and Omnipotence bade me 
overleap the vast, the infinite space between an 
eternal nothing and this wondrous being which 
I now possess. "He spake, and it was done," 
and here I am; and though an addition to His 
works, inconceivably small compared with their 
magnitude and extent, yet nothing short of 
Omnipotence could have formed me. And vast 
must have been the design he had in view when 
employing infinite attributes to form my mortal 
frame and its immortal inhabitant. But while 
my heart throbs with awe at itself, its machine- 
ry and motions, and my eye flashes admiration 
at my hands, when I hold them up to the light, 
and see the purple hue of the blood which 
flows in innumerable channels — how simple and 
easy is that machinery to Him that made it, 
and is every day repeating the same process in 
ten thousand instances and ten thousand forms ! 
Mighty Being ! what streams of creative influ- 
ence are incessantly flowing from thee, through 
every world thy hands have formed ! 



SWEET MEDITATION. 185 

But iny soul, this ethereal principle, the intel- 
lectual inhabitant and guide of this material 
frame, with what reverence and delight must 
thou meditate on the parent Spirit that gave 
thee birth and being ! If none but the Omnipo- 
tent could form one grain of sand, or spire of 
grass, how glorious were the exertions of that 
Omnipotence when it formed a spirit whose na- 
ture rises high above gross matter; whose mys- 
terious power of thought can dart through the 
vast regions swarming with glorious worlds; 
whose conscience estimating moral character, 
weighing actions, and anticipating consequences, 
darts forward to a whole eternity of bliss or 
woe ! 

Father of Spirits ! couldst thou create not 
merely one such invisible, intangible being, with 
all its mysterious nature, and all its mighty 
powers, but have myriads of such productions 
spring up at thy voice to surround thy throne, 
and partake of so glorious a resemblance of 
thee, and shall not these spirits adore thee? 
But, while I adore, I tremble at the giddy 
height to which I am exalted, and I repeat 
with awe the dread sounds — soul — rational — 
accountable — immortal. For, ah! a sad con- 
sciousness of sin reminds me how much these 
privileges have been perverted, and how com- 



186 SWEET MEDITATION. 

pletely they might turn to curses. If I attempt 
to deprecate thy wrath, due to sin, I shudder 
lest I should seem to deny the enormity of 
offence committed against such a Being, whose 
claims on my reverence, obedience, and affec- 
tion, are attested by the thundering and united 
voice of creation. But here my meditations 
take their sweetest turn. I can own all the ex- 
tent of my guilt. I can admit how much I have 
deserved the horrors of thy displeasure, and yet 
can plead exemption. For the mysteriously 
grand Creator, the inflexibly righteous moral 
Governor has become the condescending, the 
compassionate Redeemer. Then, such a Saviour 
is mighty to save — is mighty to save as he was 
to create, or would have been to destroy ! For 
when that Being who could bid worlds swim in 
infinite space, and maintain them all by a simple 
volition of his infinite mind, employs the same 
infinity to recover, to save, and to bless, what 
may not be expected from his grace ? 

My heart reposes on thy word, thy testimony 
of pardon and life through Christ. My soul 
feels that she rests on the same basis on which 
the universe is upheld, and her peace, like her 
being and immortality, passes all understanding. 
But my meditation is the more sweet when I 
reflect that thou hast not only pardoned me, 



SWEET MEDITATION. 187 

but entered into a friendly covenant with me, 
and hast bound thyself by oath never to cease 
from doing me good. I look back through 
another year, and see thy faithfulness to a cove- 
nant " ordered in all things and sure," and muse 
on all thy loving-kindness and thy truth, till my 
heart grows warm within me, and my devotion 
burns, to think that all this vast infinity of being 
and perfection that dwells with thee is all my 
own: that everything which the creation dis- 
plays of activity and efficiency, of might and 
skill, of beneficence and grandeur, is all pledged 
to me to be forthcoming in every need, and to 
be employed throughout eternity to make me 
blessed. " God, it is too much!" I am ready 
to exclaim, but I am checked by thy voice, that 
says, " Too much, indeed, it might be for thee 
to expect or receive, but not too much for me to 
give, for I delight to do exceeding abundantly 
above all you can ask or think." 

If, then, my meditations on thy past dealings 
are sweet, so shall be my musings over that 
futurity which thou hast spread out before me. 
Eternity is so grand that it is awful from its 
vastness. I shrink, and almost think it gloomy 
to have the prospect of living for ever, though I 
feel that my soul shudders at annihilation as a 
dread abyss. But when I think of eternity with 



188 WORK IN MY VINEYARD. 

Thee, it is delightful. With thy society, and 
that of thy beloved friends, I shall know no 
solitude. By thine infinite resources, modes of 
enjoyment shall be found for me which will 
leave no vacuum in my being or my bliss; and 
through eternity it shall be sweet to meditate 
that, upheld by thee I shall never lose myself, 
my holiness, my heaven; and 0, still higher 
transport, never lose my God! 



SON, GO WORK TO-DAY IN MY VINEYARD. 

There is something very tender and touching 
in these words. How it should reach, and move, 
and melt the hearts of our young men, for it is 
chiefly designed for them. 

Young man, hear the voice of God, and live. 
Perhaps you inquire, "Am I personally ad- 
dressed, and does God speak to me?" Yes, the 
address is personal — it is authoritative — it is 
affectionate. How are you affected? Are you 
alarmed? Are you penitent? Are you submis- 
sive, and obedient to the heavenly call ? What 
say you? let your language be that of the 
youthful Samuel — " Speak, Lord, for thy ser- 
vant heareth." Let yours be the promptitude 
of the enraptured Isaiah — "Here am I, send 



WORK IN MY VINEYARD. 189 

me." If such be the correspondent feelings of 
your heart, and such your readiness to hear what 
the Lord shall speak, you will naturally ask, 
"Am I in the path of duty — in the way of sal- 
vation ? If not, where shall I discover it ?" The 
reply is at hand, "Son, go work in my vine- 
yard." There is the place of labour, the sphere 
of exertion, and the post of honour. If you look 
at your relative connections and your consequent 
duties; at your situation in society, and the 
obligations which it necessarily involves, you 
will see at once where God hath fixed the 
bounds of your habitation. It is a kind of social 
or providential vineyard, where your talents and 
virtues are put to the test, and called into exer- 
cise. But you have read of another and yet 
more interesting sphere of exertion ; God has a 
Church in the world — a vineyard in a very 
fruitful hill ; "for the vineyard of the Lord of 
Hosts is the house of Israel." Apply then for 
immediate admission into this sacred enclosure. 
Go, and approach to this vineyard without delay, 
and as you proceed you will hear a heavenly 
whisper — "This is the way, walk ye in it." 
Still press onward, "asking the way to Zion with 
your face thitherward," and you shall hear the 
great Teacher sent from God say to you — "I 
17 



190 WORK IN MY VINEYARD. 

am the door; by me if any man enter in he 
shall be saved. " 

If, after having knocked, the door of mercy be 
opened before you, it will be natural for you to 
pause, and inquire with the jailor, " What must I 
do to be saved ?" You will find answers adapted 
both to your reason and inclination — Son, go 
work in my vineyard, and believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. You will also perceive that repent- 
ance is a work, as the commands of the gospel 
are, " Repent and be converted ; bring forth fruits 
meet for repentance. " You must also perceive 
that whatever relates to personal and progressive 
holiness, is a part of the work of this vineyard. 
The grace that bringeth salvation teacheth us to 
live soberly, righteously, and godly, to be per- 
fecting holiness in the fear of God, and to follow 
peace and holiness, without which no man can 
see the Lord. You will likewise find that the 
work and labours of love are required of you. 
Your fellow-creatures have numerous and urgent 
claims upon you; the household of faith and the 
great family of mankind are always presenting 
objects which serve to cherish a spirit of en- 
larged benevolence and commisseration; and as 
one has well observed — However inferior our 
stations or slender our abilities, we have all one 
talent. How have we employed it? We have 



WORK IN MY VINEYARD. 191 

all had some means and opportunities of useful- 
ness. What brand have we plucked from the 
fire? What naked wretch have we clothed? 
What child of ignorance have we instructed? 
In what instance have we resembled Him who 
went about doing good? who came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his 
life a ransom for many. 

Do you, indeed, anxiously ask whether the 
King's business requires haste, and what is the 
proper season for you to go to work in the vine- 
yard? Reason, and conscience, and revelation 
reply, To-day. The command of the father to 
his son was doubtless given in the morning, and 
you are in the morning of your short existence, 
and is not this the fittest season for active, la- 
borious, self-denying exertion. Whatever claims 
your parents or relatives, the church or society 
have upon you, listen to them, weigh them, dis- 
charge them to-day. With respect to your own 
interest, consider that now is the accepted time, 
now is the day of salvation. God's language 
is, "To-day if you will hear my voice, harden 
not your hearts." And why to-day? Because 
the day of life is short, and there is much to be 
done; because it is uncertain, and much may 
be neglected, and because the night cometh 
wherein no man can work. Carpe diem, you 



192 REFLECTIONS ON PSALM LXV. 11. 

know, is the poet's advice, and which Dr. John- 
son has thus happily paraphrased: 

" Catch then, catch the fleeting hour; 
Improve each moment as it flies; 
Life's a short summer — man a flower; 
He dies, alas! how soon he dies!" 

Do you want motive and encouragement? Do 
you pant for grace, and aspire after glory? 
You shall reap if you faint not. He that asketh 
receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, for the Lord 
is unto all that call upon him, and he hath 
never said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye me 
in vain." 0, my young friend, the desire of 
my heart is, that He who has granted you a new 
year, may bestow a new heart and a right spirit 
upon you, that the day-star may arise upon your 
soul as the opening dawn, and the blessed pre- 
sage of everlasting day. 

God speaks now to every young man, saying, 
"Son, go work to-day in my vineyard." 



REFLECTIONS ON PSALM LXV. 11. 

"thou crownest the year with thy goodness." 

It is recorded of the wicked, that they will not 
behold the operations of Jehovah's hand; when 



REFLECTIONS ON PSALM LXV. 11. 193 

his judgments are abroad in the earth, they 
will not see; and when his mercy is eminently 
displayed, they will remain alike insensible; 
but those who are savingly enlightened from 
above, see something of his glory in all the 
works of nature; they hear his voice in every 
event of his providence ; as affectionate children, 
they tremble when he frowns, they rejoice when 
his glory is made manifest. 

Sentiments of this kind appear to have im- 
pressed the mind of the Psalmist, when he 
uttered these words. He celebrates the awful 
justice and the infinite compassion of his Hea- 
venly Father in the former part of this Psalm, 
and then sweetly concludes with these words : 
"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; 
and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon 
the pastures of the wilderness: and the little 
hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are 
clothed with flocks ; the valleys also are covered 
over with corn; they shout for joy, they also 
smg." 

May we not take up the words with ad- 
' miration and gratitude, when we review the 
mercies of the past year? At its commence- 
ment the clouds appeared to gather in blackness 
all around us; we were ready to fear, lest we 
should experience cleanness of teeth in all our 
17* 



194 REFLECTIONS ON PSALM LXV. 11. 

streets; the sword of war, God's sore judg- 
ment, hung heavy over our land, and peace 
appeared afar off; and yet, in the midst of 
deserved wrath, our God has remembered mercy; 
he has restored unto us this invaluable blessing, 
and answered the prayers of his people. ! 
how great is his goodness! He has also given 
unto us an abundance of the fruits of the 
earth ! He has caused our fields to stand 
thick with corn, and our valleys to laugh and 
sing! He has literally crowned the year with 
goodness. 

But let us pursue the subject still further, and 
behold his goodness in a spiritual point of view: 
First, as it respects our own souls. How many 
of our fellow-sinners have been called to appear 
at the bar of God, altogether unprepared, with- 
out an interest in the Redeemer's blood; and 
who are now suffering the vengeance of eternal 
fire, without hope of mercy, while we are per- 
mitted to continue under the joyful sound 
of salvation! " Bless the Lord, our souls, 
and forget not all his benefits, who crown- 
eth us with loving-kindness, and with tender 
mercies." 

Again, let us behold his goodness, as mani- 
fested to the Church at large since the com- 
mencement of the past year. His glorious gospel 



REFLECTIONS ON PSALM LXY. 11. 195 

has been extending its benign influences; many 
sinners have felt its quickening power, who were 
heretofore dead in trespasses and sins; new 
temples have been erected for the worship of the 
true God, where the god of this world appeared 
to reign triumphant; benighted villages have 
been visited with the light of life; fresh labour- 
ers have been sent forth into the gospel-harvest; 
missionaries have been preserved amid surround- 
ing dangers in various parts of the globe, while 
peace attends our Israel. May we not exclaim, 
with the admiring psalmist, "Thou, Lord, 
hast crowned the year with thy goodness!'' 
What sentiments of gratitude, what ardent zeal, 
what activity in his service, ought these things 
to enkindle in every one who feels a real regard 
for the glory of God his Saviour, and the eternal 
interests of his fellow-men ! 

What a ground of consolation, also, is the 
goodness of a covenant God to every real be- 
liever, when he considers that the God of pro- 
vidence and of grace is his God, who will crown 
with everlasting blessedness the acceptable year 
of his redeemed, and bring them all to his own 
right hand, where his goodness will inspire new 
songs of praise for ever and ever ! 



196 WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE ? 

How much is included in this short and simple 
inquiry? It refers to matters of the deepest 
solemnity, and of the most thrilling interest — 
matters with which all are in some measure 
acquainted; but which, alas! very few ade- 
quately understand, or properly feel. How 
necessary is it that we should be taught of God, 
taught by his providence, his word, and his 
Spirit, ere we can form a just estimate of life 
in general, or of our own lives in particular. 
Let us then unite with the psalmist, in the peti- 
tion, "So teach us to number our days that we 
may apply our hearts unto wisdom." 

Different answers may be given to the inquiry, 
"What is life?" 

Life is the mysterious union and cooperation 
of soul with body, which originates in Almighty 
wisdom, and is maintained by Almighty power. 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust 
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life; and man became a living soul."' 
Such is the account of the origin of life, with 
which we are furnished in the word of God. How 
the two component parts of human existence 



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 197 

act and react upon each other, we cannot tell. 
How the dissolution of the connection now sub- 
sisting between them causes death, we know not. 
Certain it is, in whatever obscurity the matter 
may be involved, that all life must be traced 
directly to God. He is self-existent — the only 
living God — the Author of all vitality in heaven 
and on earth. Every living creature, from the 
archangel before the throne to the meanest 
insect found in this lower world, lives and moves 
in God. Either must we admit this great truth, 
or maintain that creatures owe their existence 
entirely to themselves — a notion which is at once 
manifestly irrational and awfully dangerous, in- 
volving not only scepticism with all its absurdi- 
ties, but also atheism with all its horrors. 

Life is a divine gift, which is held entirely by 
the forbearance and long-suffering of God. 

Scarcely had men begun to live, when they 
rendered themselves liable to death. "Thou 
shalt surely die," was the threatening attached 
to the test of obedience, which God was pleased 
to appoint to our first parents. "Dust thou art, 
and unto dust thou shalt return," was the sen- 
tence passed upon them and upon all their pos- 
terity, immediately after the fall. And now, 
whether we look at the human race at large, or 
at the individuals of whom the great family of 



198 WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 

man consists, we behold those who, not only in 
consequence of original guilt, but also of actual 
transgressions, are exposed to the righteous dis- 
pleasure of God. The sentence is passed — the 
execution of it only is delayed. Alas ! how true 
it is, that " because sentence against an evil 
work is not executed speedily, therefore the 
heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to 
do evil." 

Life is the only time in which men have 
any opportunity of beginning to love and serve 
God. 

"The grave cannot praise thee; death cannot 
celebrate thee; the living, the living, he shall 
praise thee." It is in this life that we must 
acquire the knowledge of God, of Christ, of 
heaven. If now we remain ignorant of the way 
of salvation, unwilling to embrace the gospel, 
we must endure eternal death. Solemn con- 
sideration ! that it were powerfully impressed 
on every heart — "Now is the accepted time, now 
is the day of salvation." 

"Great God. on what a slender thread 
Hang everlasting things! 
The eternal state of all the dead 
Upon life's feeble strings!" 

Life is a scene of mingled pain and pleasure, 



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 199 

in which joy and sorrow are generally found to 
be mixed together. 

Many are the sources of enjoyment which a 
wise and gracious God has been pleased to pro- 
vide for his creatures. We repudiate the notion, 
so insulting to God, that u man was made to 
mourn. " Doubtless he does mourn, but it is 
not because he is a creature, but because he is 
a sinful creature; and the effects of sin are so 
sad, that if we look abroad on the world, we dis- 
cover the whole creation groaning and travailing 
in pain, and even the people of God enduring 
affliction, often of the most perplexing and try- 
ing kind. Can we wonder if, under the pressure 
of bodily and mental, personal and relative trou- 
ble, the child of God is prompted to say, "I 
loathe it; I would not live alway." 

Life is an existence which is, at best, very 
brief, and must soon be surrendered. 

In estimating the length of human life, we 
have only to glance at eternity. What a dis- 
parity is there between the few years of which 
our mortal life is made up, and the inconceiv- 
able, immeasurable duration before us. The 
shortness of life is often declared and depicted 
in the word of God; the vapour, the dream, the 
shadow, represent its fleeting, evanescent cha- 
racter. The leaf, the grass, the flower of the 



200 WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 

field prefigure its frail and brief existence. The 
shuttle, the post, the tale that is told, exhibit 
its swift and rapid flight. How true it is, that 
"man who is born of woman, is of few days." 
" The days of our years are three-score years 
and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be 
four-score years, yet is their strength labour 
and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly 
away." 

Life is a privilege, the continuance of which 
is altogether precarious and uncertain. 

We know not what a day, an hour, a moment 
may bring forth. An impenetrable veil shrouds 
the future from our view. The precise time, 
and the exact circumstances of our departure 
hence, God knows; but these are secret things, 
which belong only to God. The shafts of the 
king of terrors are directed indiscriminately at 
the young and the old, the rich and the poor. 
There is no distinction, no discharge, no escape 
in this warfare. Death reigns over all men: 
soon must we die. 

" Our life contains a thousand springs, 
And dies if one be gone ; 
Strange that a harp of thousand strings 
Should keep in tune so long." 

Life is the precursor to the awful solemnities 
of death, and judgment, and eternity. 



WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? 201 

"It is appointed unto men once to die, and 
after death the judgment." On completion of 
our earthly career, we must pass through the 
valley of the shadow of death. The judgment 
will soon follow, solemn in its circumstances, 
universal in its objects, righteous in its proceed- 
ings, eternal in its determinations. "Behold, 
the Judge standeth before the door !" And then 
we must enter on heaven, with all its ineffable 
bliss, or on hell, with all its unutterable woe. 
To those who lived to God, who died in Christ, 
it will be said, "Come, ye blessed. " To those 
who neglected and despised the Saviour, and 
lived according to the course of this world, it 
will be said, "Depart, ye cursed. " "These 
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but 
the righteous into life eternal. ,, 

May the people of God, when they review 
that part of life which is passed, when they con- 
sider the claims of that period of life in which 
they are at present placed, and when, with be- 
coming resignation to the will of God, they 
anticipate that portion of life which yet remains, 
be prompted to abasement, to self-examination, 
to fresh energy in the divine life. "Now it is 
high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our 
salvation nearer than when we believed." 

May the careless and the impenitent, amid 
18 



202 HOW LOXG- HATE I TO LIVE? 

their indifference and unbelief, be led to ponder 
the warnings and the threatenings contained in 
the word of God; to reflect on the folly of pro- 
crastination; to consider the necessity of instant 
dedication to God. of immediate repentance. 
" Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, 
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; 
but that the wicked turn from his way and live. 
Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for why 
will ye die?" 



HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 

2 Bamvkl xix. 31. 

What a solemn interrogation is this, and how 
impossible is it for any created being to answer 
the inquiry! No man on earth, no angel in 
heaven, can tell how long I have to live, or how 
long you have to live; but were I endued with 
a spirit of prophecy, and could I tell how long a 
fellow mortal has to live, with what unspeakable 
anxiety would the question be propounded by 
such as are now living in a state of perfect indif- 
ference and insensibility. 

That young man who has spent another year 
in the service of Satan, and who knows in his 



HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 203 

own conscience, that if called suddenly away, 
he must sink to eternal death, with what ardent 
solicitude would he inquire, " How long have I 
to live?" That parent, who looks with tremb- 
ling anxiety upon a numerous offspring, and who 
is endeavouring to amass an abundance of earthly 
treasure for them in this world, forgetful of the 
next, with what emotion would he propose the 
same inquiry, "How long have I to live?" And 
even the old man who has nearly filled his days, 
who is covered with grey hairs, and has one foot 
in the grave — even he, too, though he is con- 
scious it cannot be long, would come forward 
with the same inquiry, " How long have I to 
live?" This is a suitable question with which 
to commence a new period of our mortal exist- 
ence. It affords a suitable subject of meditation 
whenever death enters our families, our sanc- 
tuaries, or the vicinity where we reside; and it 
is a subject of universal interest — it comes home 
to every character and to every heart. 

Good old Barzillai was a very aged man, even 
four-score years old, when he asked the prophet 
"How long have I to live?" And he seems to 
have no other desire than to return and die 
amongst his friends in his own city, and to be 
buried by the grave of his father and his mother. 
All this some may say, is but natural, very 



204 HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 

natural, in a man who had so far exceeded the 
usual boundary of human life, but calculating 
according to his age, we may yet live more than 
half a century in the world. This is indeed pos- 
sible; the man of thirty may say so, but let it 
be remembered, nothing can be more unreason- 
able than not to distinguish between possibility 
and probability. Can you, in your own con- 
science, believe this likely to be the case. Let 
us consult our own observation; how seldom are 
we called to follow to the grave or inter the 
mortal remains of one who had reached the age 
of three-score years and ten. How has it been 
in the majority of cases which have been wit- 
nessed by us within the past year ? Have not 
the ravages of death been more numerous, and 
more alarming among the young than among 
any other class whatever? If, then, the youth 
inquires, "How long have I to live?" let him 
judge impartially, let him think on what he him- 
self has witnessed, let him visit our cemeteries, 
and read the inscriptions on the tombs there, 
after which, his own conscience may, perhaps, 
answer the inquiry, so as to shake his presump- 
tive confidence. In this also, as in other cases, 
it is wise to consult the oracles of eternal truth. 
And is there anything in the sacred volume 
which will encourage us to think that we have 



HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 205 

long to live. No, on the contrary, our days 
are said to be " swifter than a post, they are 
passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that 
hasteth to the prey." And, again, "What is 
your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth 
for a little while, and then vanisheth away. Tea, 
all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof 
is as the flower of the field." What a striking 
figure is this, to describe the brevity of human 
life. It is compared not to the trees of the 
forest, not to the sturdy oak, but even the beauty 
and glory of it; to the flower of the field, which 
can endure for a few months, and may be des- 
troyed in a few minutes. Such are the descrip- 
tions given of the mortality of man, such the 
uncertain tenure on which we hold every earthly 
good, and such the danger of sinking to endless 
ruin, to which every impenitent sinner is every 
moment exposed. And within the space of a 
few hours, after hearing such admonitions as 
these, enforced as they are by the providence 
and the word of God, how commonly do we see 
men living as if the present life would never 
have no end, or the next would never have a 
beginning. 

Another idea connected with the brevity of 
human life, and suggested by this solemn inquiry, 
is the wisdom of God in concealing from us the 
18* 



206 HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 

time of our death. That there is an appointed 
time to man upon earth, and that the faithful 
servant of God is immortal till his work is done, 
are truths which cannot be reasonably contro- 
verted. But the precise moment when we shall 
pass into the invisible world, is known only to 
Him who has the keys of death and of hell; 
who openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth 
and no man openeth. Some may be ready to 
say, did we but know how long we were to live, 
it would certainly excite in us more earnest de- 
sires to be prepared for another world, and would 
doubtless prove a blessing to us. But to this we 
may reply, nothing can be more arrogant and 
presumptuous than to oppose our judgment to 
the wisdom of Jehovah, whose understanding is 
infinite. So the rich man in hell is described as 
expressing the greatest confidence, that if one 
arose from the dead and went to his brethren, 
they surely would repent; but he is answered, 
"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither will they be persuaded though one arose 
from the dead." And were a voice from heaven 
to sanction these admonitions by calling to an 
impenitent sinner, and pronouncing the solemn 
sentence, "This year thou shalt die," it is more 
than probable, whatever temporary alarm might 
be produced, the impression would soon be obli- 



HOW LONG HAVE I TO LIVE? 207 

terated from his mind, and without renewing 
grace, we are sure there would be no saving 
change. 

This uncertainty as to the time of our death 
is calculated and intended, also, to promote 
watchfulness. Our Saviour himself made this 
improvement of it when he said, " Watch, there- 
fore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth 
come." Thus we are called to stand prepared 
every day for that which may take place on any 
day. The pressing invitations of the gospel are 
enforced, too, from the same consideration — 
"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call 
upon him while he is near." "Whatsoever 
thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; 
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 
Now is the accepted time; this is the day of 
salvation; u To-day, if ye will hear his voice, 
harden not your hearts." Think, then, what 
may be, what must be the consequence of a 
little more procrastination. 

"0 fly! No tarrying make; death and despair 
Hang on your lingering steps Tvhilst you delay; 
The heavens thick blackness gather, and the night 
Conies surely on, that never turns to day." 



208 THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 

What can be more solemn than human life? 
When we contemplate it in itself, in the influ- 
ence which it exerts, and in the vast and awful 
consequences resulting from it, it is clothed with 
inexpressible solemnity. 

Human life is most solemn from its brevity. 
It is a course which is soon run; it is a vapour 
which is soon exhaled; it is a tale which is 
soon told : it is a glass, the sands of which soon 
descend, and disappear. The flying cloud, the 
withering grass, the quickly faded flower, the 
arrow just propelled from the string, are appro- 
priate and impressive emblems of the life of 
man. " It appeareth only for a little time, and 
then vanisheth away. Thou hast made my days 
as a hand-breadth, and mine age is as nothing 
before thee." 

Human life is most solemn from its uncer- 
tainty. It is just as fluctuating as it is transi- 
tory. When we are soberly regarding it, we 
find that we can calculate on nothing, depend 
implicitly on nothing. Instead of anticipating 
a year, we cannot confidently expect a day, 
we dare not boast even of a moment. In an 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 209 

instant, in the twinkling of an eye, we may be 
cut down, and removed to the invisible and 
eternal world. 

Human life is most solemn from the work 
which ive have to do. "What engagements are 
to be discharged; and how are those engage- 
ments perpetually recurring ! What labours are 
to be endured; and in how patient and cheerful 
a manner are those labours to be borne! What 
difficulties are to be encountered; and how rea- 
dily are those difficulties to be met; how boldly 
and vigorously are they to be overcome ! What 
enemies are to be contended against; and how 
determinately must we grapple with those adver- 
saries at every step of our journey! What 
changes are to be realized; and how submissive 
and unmurmuring is the spirit which we are to 
exemplify in the endurance of all those changes ! 
What sufferings are to be experienced; and how 
are we required to remember that every rod has 
a voice, to which we are bound to listen, and 
whose communications we are bound to obey! 

Human life is most solemn from the eternity 
with which it is associated, and to which it is 
ever tending with almost inconceivable rapidity. 
All its engagements, all its opportunities, all its 
privileges, all its changes, all its trials, are un- 
speakably solemn from their connection, their 



210 THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 

close and inseparable connection with eternity ; 
with that vast and changeless state of existence 
on which we shall soon enter, and to which the 
present state of being is only an introduction. 

11 that unfathomable sea! 

Those deeps without a shore ! 
Where living waters gently play, 
Or fiery billows roar \ n 

If these remarks be true — and who can doubt 
them? — with how much seriousness should hu- 
man life be regarded! — with how much care 
and earnestness should it be improved! It- 
should never be trifled with, much less viewed 
with unmeaning and wanton levity. The deve- 
lopment of such a spirit unfolds ignorance the 
most profound, and folly the most egregious. 
The man of serious reflection will see nothing in 
connection with human life with which to trifle : 
while the man of prayer, and the man of God, 
will see everything in it to awaken thought, and 
lead to the most earnest and unceasing exertion. 

Improve life by estimating it aright. Human 
life can never be employed for the accomplish- 
ment of the noblest objects until this estimation 
be formed respecting it. Entertain those large, 
those sublime, and those impressive views of it 
which are so finely expressed and inculcated in 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 211 

the word of God. Mark how Job, David, Solo- 
mon, Isaiah, Paul, and especially our Saviour, 
speak respecting its solemnity, its importance, 
and its tremendous responsibility. Endeavour 
to have a fellow-feeling with them, and act as 
they did through the journey of life. 

Improve life by embracing every opportunity 
of securing advantage, and especially advantage 
of the highest kind. Let not one be under- 
valued, let not one be lost. Let every oppor- 
tunity of improvement be promptly and eagerly 
seized; let it be regarded as a pearl; let it be 
esteemed as a treasure ; let it be valued as the 
golden moment. Grasp it then at once, and let 
it not pass from you without a blessing being 
left behind. Knowledge must be acquired; the 
mind must be well cultivated; correct habits 
must be formed; special seasons for doing good 
must be sacredly regarded; and, above all, the 
heart, with all its passions, its affections, its sen- 
sibilities, and its increased holiness, supremely 
contemplated and solicited. 

Improve life by associating it with fervent 
and unceasing prayer. There can be no pre- 
paredness for duty without much prayer; no 
fitness for the changes of life without much 
prayer. There can be no security amidst the 



212 THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIFE. 

temptations and dangers of life, without much 
prayer. There can be no meetness for the de- 
cline and the close of life, without much prayer. 
And sure are we, that after the present life has 
terminated, there can be no celestial happiness 
enjoyed unless a spirit of habitual prayer has 
sweetened its anticipation, and fitted us for its 
full realization. 

Life, to be useful and happy, must never be 
spent without prayer. Prayer will sanctify all 
its engagements, alleviate all its cares, sweeten 
all its mercies, give a tone and an impulse to all 
its efforts, and multiply and enrich all its enjoy- 
ments. 

Improve life by always anticipating its close. 
It will soon be here, and much sooner, perhaps, 
than we expected. A few more fleeting years, 
or perhaps only a few months have to roll away, 
before death shall overtake us. Let us so live, 
and so labour, then, that we may render up our 
last account with joy, and not with grief. Let 
us live as those who expect to die. ! let us 
live as the citizens of the skies, and the children 
of the resurrection ! Let every reader uniformly 
remember, that if he trifles with life, if he neg- 
lects its duties, throws away its opportunities, 
and despises its high responsibilities, he does it 



EBENEZER. 213 

at Ms peril — peril that may be awful, irreme- 
diable, eternal. 

" How ought I then on earth to live, 
While God prolongs the kind reprieve, 

And spares this house of clay ? 
My sole concern, my single care, 
To watch, and tremble, and prepare, 

Against that awful day." 



EBENEZER. 

It was customary in Old Testament times, when 
any great event had occurred, or deliverance 
been accomplished, to set up a large stone or 
pillar in the immediate neighbourhood, and to 
bestow upon it a name commemorative of the 
circumstance. Thus when Jacob, on his journey 
to Padan-Aram, had been comforted and en- 
couraged by a vision of angels and a voice 
from heaven, we are informed that "he rose 
up early in the morning, and took the stone 
that he had put for his pillow, and set it up 
for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of 
it, and called the name of that place Bethel," 
that is, the House of God. In like manner, 
when the children of Israel had passed over 
Jordan, Joshua, by divine appointment, set up in 
19 



214 EBENEZER. 

Gilgal twelve stones, which he had caused to be 
brought out of the midst of the river, and spake 
unto the people, saying, "When your children 
shall ask their fathers, in time to come, saying, 
6 What mean ye by these stones?' then ye shall 
let you children know, saying, 'Israel came over 
this Jordan on dry land/ ' In like manner, 
also, when God in answer to the prayers of 
Samuel had given Israel a signal victory over 
the host of the Philistines, the prophet "took a 
stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Sher, and 
called the name of it Ebenezer," that is, the 
stone of help, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord 
helped as." 

The practice now alluded to was attended 
with many advantages in an age when graphical 
delineation was almost altogether unknown, and 
when the events of history were chiefly trans- 
mitted from father to son through the medium 
of oral tradition. Nor is there any reason to 
believe it was peculiar to the Hebrew nation. 
On the contrary, there still exist in many parts 
of Great Britain similar stones and clusters of 
stones, which, though they be the relics of a bar- 
barous and superstitious age, and the history of 
them has long since passed into oblivion, were 
doubtless the Bethels, the Gilgals, and the 
Ebenezers of their day. 



EBENEZER. 215 

In these modern times, when light, and intel- 
ligence, and gospel privileges abound, it is unne- 
cessary to set up a stone of help, or to record 
thereon what the Lord has done for us and for 
his people. But there are seasons in which it is 
equally salutary and useful to erect a spiritual 
Ebenezer in our hearts; and looking back upon 
all the way through which our good Shepherd 
has led us, to say, in the spirit and in the lan- 
guage of the prophet, " Hitherto hath the Lord 
helped us." 

Such a season is the commencement of an- 
other year — a period eminently calculated to 
excite serious reflections in the minds of both 
old and young — a period to which no one, at the 
distance of a few months, could look forward 
with any degree of certainty — a period at which 
neither the reader nor the writer of these re- 
marks may be permitted again to arrive. 

Come, then, fellow-Christians, believers in 
the same Lord, subjects of the same King, par- 
takers of the same hope, expectants of the same 
glorious inheritance, let us here set up our 
Ebenezer, and say, "Hitherto hath the Lord 
helped us." 

The past year, up to a late period, has been 
one of peace and quietude in our land. We 
have sat, as it were, under our vines and fig- 



216 EBENEZER. 

trees, and no one has made us afraid. The 
thunders of war have indeed been heard, but 
they have rolled at a distance, and only their 
fainter echoes have reached our shores. For a 
year of such tranquillity shall we not be grate- 
ful? Shall we not own our obligations to the 
Lord of Sabbaoth? and though he is now 
smiting us, shall we not, in the retrospect of 
such a period, erect our Ebenezer, and say, 
"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us"? 

The past year has been one of division and 
speculation in our churches. Overweening men, 
in the pride of fancied superiority, have launched 
into the depths of an intricate and bewildering 
theology; and, through the influence of a spu- 
rious reputation and declamatory harangues, 
have turned aside not a few from the simplicity 
of the faith. But the period of delusion is fast 
passing away; the ark of the covenant rides 
secure amidst the deluge of error; wave after 
wave has rolled harmless from its sides; while 
the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, bursting 
forth with renovated splendour, are rapidly dissi- 
pating the clouds which obscure our national 
horizon; and that hand, which of old divided the 
waters which were above the firmament from 
those which were below it, is drawing as broad 
a line between the truths of the gospel and the 



EBENEZER. 217 

dreams of a heated imagination. Surely, while 
this is the case, it is the duty of all those who 
possessing their souls in peace, have been ena- 
bled to "hold fast the profession of their faith 
without wavering," to set up an Ebenezer, and 
to say, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 

The past year has been a period of commer- 
cial distress and pecuniary embarrassment to 
thousands. It were too much to expect that all 
who read these remarks have reposed in safety 
beyond the reach of an evil which has spread so 
widely ; and yet, my brother, if in the midst of 
difficulties, it may be of temptation, you have 
been enabled to trust in the kind providence of 
God, and to "hold fast your integrity without 
letting it go," have you not cause to rejoice, to 
"thank God, and take courage"? But if, on 
the other hand, the past year has been to you a 
season of prosperity — if your basket and store 
have been blessed, and your substance been 
increased, still louder is the call upon you to 
give thanks to the Almighty. Thus, whether 
adversity has shut you up to prayer and suppli- 
cation, or prosperity has called forth the voice 
of praise from your lips, you are equally, at this 
season, bound to set up your Ebenezer, and to 
say, in accents of grateful acknowledgment, 
"Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 
19* 



218 EBENEZER. 

But human life is a varied and rapidly chang- 
ing scene. "Man is born unto trouble, as the 
sparks fly upward." The past year has doubt- 
less been a time of sickness in many families — a 
season of death in not a few. My brother, my 
sister, have you lain, do you now lie on a bed 
of pain? Has the multitude of your bones 
endured strong pain ? Or have you been called 
upon to attend the couch of a sick parent, or 
child, or wife, or husband? Have your hands 
closed the eyes of your dearest earthly friend? 
Has the desire of your eyes been taken away 
with a stroke? And yet, have your consolations 
abounded? Have a present God and a present 
Saviour assuaged your anguish and dried your 
tears ? 0, then, praise the Lord ! Magnify and 
exalt the name of our God ! "He afflicteth not 
willingly," nor willingly doth he grieve the chil- 
dren of men. "Whom the Lord loveth he 
chasteneth; and scourgeth every child whom 
he receiveth." But has the case been otherwise 
with you? Has health smiled upon your dwell- 
ing? Does the little circle of your family and 
relations remain unbroken? Then let your 
ascriptions of praise and glory to the Most 
High be more elevated still — erect your joyful 
Ebenezer, and tune your voices to the gladsome 
lay of, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 



EBENEZER. 219 

What shall I say more? There is a little 
world within us, open only to the eye of Omni- 
science. "The heart knoweth its own bitteress, 
and a stranger intermeddleth not with its toy." 
Christian reader, has thy growth in grace during 
the past year been steady and progressive? Has 
it resembled "the shining light, that shineth 
more and more unto the perfect day"? Have 
the months, as they rolled away, been marked 
by new attainments in holiness, new zeal in 
the Redeemer's cause? I bid thee God-speed. 
Go on thy way rejoicing. Erect thine Ebene- 
zer, and say "Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
me." 

But you will perhaps say, "Xo! my advance- 
ment in the divine life has been tardy and inter- 
rupted," You have found the old man within 
you still struggling for the mastery. Hard 
thoughts of God have occasionally arisen, and 
the pleasures of sense and of sin have renewed 
their enticements. Yet, through the grace given 
to you, you have not been wholly overcome; 
"the fiery darts of the wicked one" have been 
quenched "by the shield of faith;" and you 
have been enabled to "withstand in the evil 
day." Set up, then, your Ebenezer; and while 
you pray for more grace, stronger faith, and "a 
hope that maketh not ashamed," say, in grateful 



220 EBENEZER. 

remembrance of past mercies, "Hitherto hath 
the Lord helped me." 

It appears, then, that in every situation in 
which the Christian can be placed, his grounds 
of thankfulness and joy continually abound; 
and that, while he remembers that the last 
hours of another year have expired, he may 
feel it his duty and his privilege to set up his 
spiritual Ebenezer, and to say, " Hitherto hath 
the Lord helped me." 

What remains but that, in entering on an- 
other year, we may fervently implore the Re- 
deemer's presence with us throughout its course; 
and solicit the sanctifying influences of his 
Spirit, that we may be enabled, in health or in 
sickness, in prosperity or in adversity, in peace 
or in trouble, to glorify his name from its com- 
mencement to its close. Or if, in the unsearch- 
able depths of Divine wisdom, it be decreed that 
the year on which we are about to enter shall 
be our last upon earth, that we may be enabled, 
even on the bed of death, to show forth his 
praise; yea, even there to erect our Ebenezer, 
and to say, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
us." 



THE DUTY OF SELE-EXAMINATIOX. 221 



THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

MUSINGS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF A NEW TEAK. 

What more suitable, as a requiem to the de- 
parted year, than the bewailings of a sincere 
heart, while in the secret and silent chamber it 
voluntarily subjects itself to the testing process 
of the crucible of self-examination? Such a des- 
cent into the deep caverns of the human soul 
must, we know, at any time, present an appal- 
ing spectacle; but never does the sight shock us 
so much, perhaps, as when, at the commence- 
ment of a new year, we look back and contem- 
plate that which has just expired, and which has 
borne in, beyond recall, its solemn accounts to 
the Judge of quick and dead. Truly, a naked 
human heart exhibits enough of sin and corrup- 
tion to produce the deepest humiliation and the 
most entire self-abasement, and might well lead 
to the entreaty, "Enter not into judgment with 
thy servant, Lord ! for in thy sight shall no 
flesh be justified." But what ought to be our 
feelings at such a season as the present, at the 
commencement of a new year, and in the review 
of sins, of judgments, and of mercies, past away 
as to time, but colouring our destinies as the 



222 THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

heirs of immortality — what, we say, ought to be 
our feelings? Surely penitence for the past, 
and holy resolve in respect to the future, should 
characterize the tone of our minds before God. 
At the commencement of the testing process, 
probably the more prominent sins of the by-gone 
year alone will present themselves; but these, 
alas ! are but as a vestibule to the spiritual and 
immaterial temple — the soul. There lie hidden, 
as in ambush, a fearful host of unrecognized 
enemies, that war against its best interests. 
These are lodged in its secret ch 
it were, serve to fill up the interstices thereof, 
so that the " candle of the Lord'' alone can 
search them out. 

If such, on inspection, be found the condition 
of an individual, such is also the heart of mm 
universally. And let us bear in mind, that not 
less intimately connected with the interests and 
happiness of others, are the principles which 
regulate our thoughts, feelings, and actions in- 
dividually. What caution and fidelitv. there- 
fore, are required of us, in order that we may 
neither deceive ourselves, nor mislead others ! 
For, be it remembered, that no thought passes 
through the mind but gives birth to expression, 
in word or deed, and exerts its proportional 
influence, for good or for evil, upon others as 



THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 223 

well as upon ourselves; and more than this, 
every comparative trifle will be seen, by and by, 
to have formed parts in that great whole, in 
which will be summed up the ultimate destinies 
of every human being. 

This is a solemn fact, and one which we should 
seek to keep ever before the mind, that we may, 
in the strength of that grace which is sufficient 
for us, and which is made perfect in human 
weakness, cultivate and exercise those virtues 
which are expected to be found in, and which 
ought conspicuously to adorn the Christian pro- 
fessor. Purity, truth, benevolence, charity, 
should shine forth from him with double bril- 
liancy, should sparkle like gems in the breast- 
plate of the Jewish high-priest, and be worn as 
frontlets between his eyes. 

Brought thus to see what is required of us 
as candidates for the heavenly world, our least 
delinquencies stand out as in bold relief, and 
compel the cry, "Unclean, unclean are we!" 
" Wert thou strict to mark iniquities, Lord ! 
who could stand?" And, alas ! alas! by what 
slow degrees does the human heart progress 
in the knowledge of divine things ! How few 
are its attainments! how faint its aspirations 
after the source of all good! The grovelling 
things of this passing world weigh down its 



224 THE DUTY OP SELF-EXAMINATION, 

pinions; it struggles and struggles, but seldom 
does it soar beyond the things of time and sense. 
These, like the mountains of the material world, 
shut from its vision the far-off land of spiritual 
delights. In the growth of grace, so many 
storms assail the plant, so many blights its open- 
ing buds, it is long, very long, ere the delicate 
flower expands; and when it does, it is often 
very imperfectly. The ungenial elements by 
which it is surrounded tend to destroy its vital 
juices; and but for the fructifying beams of the 
Sun of Righteousness, and the refreshing breezes 
of the Holy Spirit, which counteract their influ- 
ences, it would never come to maturity. 

"This sweet exotic of celestial birth. 
Can flourish only in celestial air." 

Yet let us not be discouraged by these diffi- 
culties of the way; let the disclosures of self- 
inspection urge us forward in the strength of 
the Lord, to be more vigilant over our spiritual 
foes, and more circumspect in our outward de-. 
portment, so that, " growing in grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ," our faith may become more vigorous, 
and our hope more strong; and thus we may go 
on from one degree of holiness to another, until 
we shall have "grown up into Christ in all 



THE DUTY OF SELF- EXAMINATION. 225 

things." In the spiritual as in the material 
world, everything is progressive. The morning 
sunbeams do but partially illumine the constel- 
lated tower, whose ivyed turrets are reflected in 
the clear stream that runs at its base ; but, as 
the bright luminary climbs higher and higher, 
more and more picturesque beauties are revealed, 
and when at length he has gained the zenith in 
the blue heavens, no part of the building is left 
in shadow, its fair form and elegant proportions 
stand out in unshrouded loveliness. If, then, 
in the works of creation, we see everything but 
gradually advance toward perfection, shall we 
wonder that Christian holiness, with so many 
impediments to oppose, so many jarring interests 
to discourage, should so slowly develope itself, 
or that we sometimes halt and become dissatis- 
fied by the difficulties which impede our pro- 
gress to maturity? But let us not, on this 
account, stop short of the goal. Let us hold on 
our way; still reach after these glorious attain- 
ments; still strive to enter in at the straight 
gate with unwearying ardour, encouraged by 
the promises, "To him that overcometh will I 
give to eat of the tree of life which is in the 
midst of the paradise of God." "In due time 
you shall reap if you faint not." 

After such reflections, we should ask our- 
20 



226 THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

selves and others, What ought to be the practi- 
cal effects on the mind? And, first, we would 
say, that since we discover so much evil in our- 
selves, we should be careful to exercise a spirit 
of charity towards others. Charity is the con- 
necting link which unites man to man, and earth 
to heaven. If this grace be in us, and abound, 
it shall "make us to be neither barren nor 
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
Christ;" whilst without this in our hearts, the 
bonds of society would be uprooted, and earth 
relapse into a second chaos. 

" This is the grace that lives and reigns 
When faith and hope shall cease ; 
J Tis this shall swell our joyful strains 
In the sweet realms of peace !" 

In proportion to the strength of this grace, 
will be evinced that concern for our neighbour 
which is binding on all the followers of Christ. 
Benevolence is one of its most fruitful branches; 
and only in proportion to the exercise of charity 
and love, can man be said to be a transcript of 
his Maker. What has characterized our con- 
duct the past year? 

In order to avoid those lamentable deficiencies 
more general among us, as well as our grievous 
short-comings in all the requirements of God's 
holy law, let our self-inspection during the year 



THE DUTY OF SELF- EXAMINATION. 227 

that has now dawned be more frequent. So 
shall our sense of delinquency be more keen; 
and with an habitual watchfulness, and prayer- 
fulness, and Divine assistance, we shall find, on 
looking back, that we are advancing in the 
Christian course. 

Let us take to ourselves "the whole armour 
of God," and in this panoply go forth conquer- 
ing and to conquer, until every spiritual foe is 
disarmed, and the shout of victory is heard in 
our spiritual tabernacle, "I thank God, through 
Jesus Christ, my Lord!" 

But it has been said, " self-knowledge is the 
most difficult of all knowledge." True; but 
" knowledge of our faults is the first step to 
improvement." We shall do well to bear this 
in mind, and nothing is so likely to do both as 
self-inspection. The motives which originate, 
mingle with, and colour our best actions, are so 
insidious, so imperfect, that it were vain to 
attempt to analyze them; their number and 
variety would occupy a volume — if, indeed, to 
do so were possible. Their true merits are 
known only to the Searcher of hearts; but, we 
repeat, where the essential elements of Christi- 
anity exist, there will be found that charity, or 
love, which we have been holding up as the 
grand regulating spring of all our thoughts, 



228 THE DUTY OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 

feelings, and actions. The spirit of pure bene- 
volence, which teaches to " forgive our enemies," 
to minister to the wants of others, which "think- 
eth no evil," which feels indignation at hearing 
the unfortunate maligned; which has a heart to 
feel for, and a hand to rescue the oppressed 
and the stranger; that checks the tongue of 
slander, and heals the breaches between friends; 
such a spirit will ever, more or less, distinguish 
the Christian character. And while this shall 
be the case, there will be no connivance at sin; 
he will but throw over the failings of his fellow- 
creatures that mantle of charity which the Scrip- 
tures commend, and which he needs to cover his 
own delinquencies. 

In conclusion, let us ask ourselves, as well as 
our readers, if, in this partial anatomy of the 
heart, this probing of spiritual wounds, there 
have been detected no incongruities, no palpable 
errors, no absence of good, no presence of evil? 
The writer pleads guilty, and but for the blood 
of Christ, that "fountain opened for sin and 
for uncleanness," would despair of saltation. 

We cannot, then, do better with the opening 
moments of a new year, than resolve, by Divine 
assistance, to continue the habit of self-examina- 
tion, and for the future to live more nearly and 
more entirely to Him who hath given himself 
for us. 



TEE AXTI-REVITALIST. 229 



THE ANTI-REVIVALIST. 

Much has been said of late for and against 
revivals; the public mind is greatly agitated 
on the subject. It behoves us, as wise men. to 
look the question full in the face, and examine it 
in all its bearings: so I thought it would not 
be amiss to state some of the dangerous conse- 
quences anticipated from a revival of religion. 
Perhaps it may cause the revival fire to burn 
somewhat brighter; at least, it may agitate the 
matter a little more, and that will be something 
gained. 

A revival of religion operates on two classes 
of society — those who are religious, and those 
who are not. It always begins with the former, 
by making them more watchful and prayerful, 
more zealous for the glory of God. and more 
compassionate over perishing souls. Then it 
immediately follows with the irreligious, leading 
them to consider their ways, to see their danger, 
to feel their need of mercy, and flee to Christ 
as the only refuge from the wrath to come. 
This change is wonderful and glorious. It has 
nothing on earth to equal it: nor is there any- 
thing like it in heaven. If the Almighty were 
20* 



230 THE ANTI-REVIVALIST. 

to convert a pious man into an archangel, it 
would not be so great a change as to translate a 
sinner from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God. This grand move- 
ment shakes Satan's kingdom to its foundations. 
The devil looks and trembles at the sight, and 
ungodly men cannot behold it without dismay; 
yea, cold-hearted professors of religion may be 
expected to cry out against it. Some of the 
dangerous consequences they foresee are the 
following: — a loss of property, a waste of time, 
distress to parents, and the annoyance of entire 
communities. 

What a loss of property ! A revival fills the 
heart with benevolence; it opens the hand, it 
unties the purse-strings, it distributes to the 
poor, it actually gives wings to riches, and 
makes them flv to the ends of the earth, to aid 
in proclaiming salvation. Yet there is no waste 
of property. It turns the money, it is true, 
into a new channel; but still there is no actual 
waste; for I firmly believe that every man, even 
in a worldly point of view, is a gainer by his 
religion. I have never yet seen nor heard of 
persons thrown into prison for debts which they 
had contracted by works of charity. There 
may be instances of this kind, but they are so 
rare that I have never met with one of them yet 



THE ANTI-REVIVALIST. 231 

in all my travels in this and other countries. 
There is more money needlessly spent every day 
by ungodly men, and a little even by good men, 
more altogether than can be raised by the whole 
Church of Christ to evangelize the world; yet 
not a word is said about the money that is thus 
needlessly and foolishly squandered. No, no ! 
the god of this world keeps all quiet on that 
head. But a revival takes place, and a little of 
the money is devoted to the cause of Christ 
which used to be spent in folly, and then comes 
the cry, What a loss of money! 

"What a waste of time! Half the night is 
spent by multitudes at the card-table, in the 
ball-room, at the theatre, in the drinking saloons, 
or in visiting parties, and no one complains of it 
as a waste of time; but when men are alarmed 
about the safety of their souls, and begin to 
read their Bibles, and go to the daily prayer- 
meetings, week-day preaching, and to other 
places where they may hear of Christ and get 
good to their souls, then it is said, See how idle 
these people are ! Mark how much time they 
spend about religion ! 

What distress to parents! A father once 
said, when some of his children became pious, 
" This will bring down my grey hairs with sor- 



232 THE ANTI- REVIVALIST. 

row to the grave." But he has lived long enough 
to see his mistake. I have seen his grey hairs; 
and as they hung upon his shoulders, and his 
eyes streaming with tears, he exclaimed, " Now 
we are a whole family going to heaven!" It 
cannot be denied, that a revival produces great 
changes in families. Some young converts will 
be compelled, from principle, to forsake sinful 
yet lucrative pursuits; while some will leave 
their homes, and their country, and go as mis- 
sionaries of the cross to distant lands; and we 
would not give a fig for that revival which did 
not produce such changes. 

That a young convert should wish to become 
a herald of mercy is not at all wonderful — it 
would be a wonder if he were not to wish it. 
And though such separations must cause a 
struggle in the breasts of tender parents, yet, 
if parents felt as they ought on this subject, 
their sorrows would soon be exchanged for joy. 

If our worthy President were to send to any 
town in these United States, saying that he was 
about to appoint a minister to some foreign 
country, and he wished to confer that honour on 
one of the youths of that town — the finest and 
the best — ah! we should see mothers of every 
grade, in love pressing onward with their sons. 



THE ANTI-REVIVALIST. 233 

and some of them praying, for the first time, 
"0, that my son may be the favoured youth!" 
But when Christ the Lord of all sends a mes- 
sage, " Who will go for us?" it is a rare thing 
to hear a parent say, " Lord, I will give thee 
my son." 

What annoyance it will create in the com- 
munity! Annoyance! — to be sure. A man who 
is born again in a revival, will almost of neces- 
sity be a revivalist. He cannot go to heaven 
without company; and if he has no companions, 
he will make them. He cannot look with com- 
posure on the perishing multitudes around him. 
He sets to work in earnest; he calls aloud to 
one, and whispers to another. He is now in a 
new world; and he invites, and warns, and 
encourages others to look unto the Lamb of 
God, who has taken away his sins, and has made 
him happy. This man will be a troubler in 
Israel. I cannot conceive of anything more 
annoying than this, to those who are at ease in 
Zion, and also to those who are asleep in carnal 
security. These are some of the consequences 
anticipated from a revival of religion. Reader, 
how are you affected by the present awakening 
in our cities, and throughout the land? 



234 WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR CHRIST? 



WHAT HAVE I DOXE FOR CHRIST? 

When we think of what the Son of God has 
done and suffered for our redemption, well may 
each one ask, "What have I done for Christ?" 
It is very little indeed, that vre can do for our 
exalted Redeemer, enthroned as he is above all 
principalities and powers, and surrounded by 
myriads of angels, who delight to do his plea- 
sure ; but are we anxious to ascertain and per- 
form that little. When we have received kind- 
ness at the hand of a fellow-mortal, we are 
anxious to make some return; and if we cannot 
pay his beneficence to the extent we could 
desire, it is some comfort to us to be able to do 
it in any degree. Do we habitually feel in this 
manner towards the Lord that bought us, that 
redeemed us from eternal perdition by his pre- 
cious blood. 

What have I done to advance Christ's king- 
dom in the world? Have I done all I could to 
accomplish this end? Have I been instant in 
season and out of season with my unbelieving 
friends, pressing upon them the absolute necessity 
of a personal interest in the atoning blood of 
Jesus? Has my conduct been such that others 



WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR CHRIST? 235 

took knowledge of me, that I had been with 
Jesus and learned of him? Have I devoted my 
substance, my time, my influence, my life, and 
my all to the glory of God, and the good of 
men? What, in spiritual things, have I done 
for Christ? Less, infinitely less, than with my 
opportunities I might have done, that I 
may be able to do more in the years which may 
yet be before me. that I may be at once 
more active in my Saviour's cause, and more 
humble at his feet. 

Again, "What have I done in temporal things 
for the members of Christ's body? Have I done 
good to all as I had opportunity, especially to 
them that were of the household of faith? Have 
I been eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and 
father to the poor, like the venerable Job, who 
only saw the day of Christ afar off? Can I say 
with him, that the blessing of him who was 
ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the 
widow's heart to sing for joy? Might I not 
rather say with the brethren of Joseph, "I am 
verily guilty concerning my brother, in that I 
saw the anguish of his soul when he besought me, 
and I would not hear." Grant me, Lord, the 
spirit of active benevolence and charity, and 
make me more willing than ever to spend and 
be spent in thy service. Since I know not how 



236 WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR CHRIST? 

short my time on earth may be, may I never 
allow a day to pass without an effort to advance 
thy cause, and to benefit my brethren of the 
human race. 

Once more, What have I endured for Christ? 
Am I one of those fair weather disciples who 
rejoice to follow Christ through good report 
only, but shrink from bearing shame and re- 
proach for him? In a word, have I shown 
myself disposed cheerfully to endure hardness 
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ? Alas! I fear 
that in this also I have come short, and loved 
the praise of men more than the praise of God. 
With what humility and self-abasement, then, 
ought I to look back upon my past life, in which 
I have proved such an unprofitable servant; and 
with what earnestness ought I, at the commence- 
ment of another year, to approach the throne of 
grace, and implore that assistance and those 
gifts which shall enable me, in time to come, to 
walk more worthy of the vocation wherewith I 
am called. Accept anew, my God and Sa- 
viour, the complete surrender of my heart and 
will. Let me cleave more closely than ever to 
thee ; and in all I think, and say, and do, have 
a single eye to thy glory. May I often ask 
myself, What have I done for Christ? and con- 
scious of my utter inability to do anything 



BLESSING "WANTED EY THE CHURCHES. 237 

without Divine aid, may I live and move as 
the daily recipient of a thousand mercies, and 
earnestly pray for thy Spirit to guide into 
all truth. 



THE BLESSING WANTED BY THE 
CHURCHES. 

UNTIL THE SPIRIT BE POURED UPON US FROM ON HIGH. 

Isaiah xxxii. 15. 

And most sure it is, that until such shall be the 
case, our souls will present a scene of spiritual 
sterility, desolation, and death. Fallen humanity 
is as the rock and the desert, " until the Spirit 
is poured from on high." Were this precious 
truth felt more deeply by all the churches, 
what a cry would it send up to Heaven for the 
descent of the Holy Spirit! Nothing is more 
wanted, at the present moment, among profess- 
ing Christians, than a thrilling and all-subduing 
sense of the necessity of the Holy Spirit's 
descent on ministers and on Christian churches. 
When such a conviction shall come, like a genial 
and refreshing gale, upon all the dwelling-places 
of Mount Zion, "the wilderness will be a fruitful 
field, and the fruitful field will be counted for a 
21 



238 THE BLESSING WANTED 

forest. Then will judgment dwell in the wilder- 
ness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful 
field. And the work of righteousness shall be 
peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness 
and assurance for ever." 

It is proposed, then, to state and illustrate 
the two following propositions: That spiritual 
prosperity can only result from the copious 
descent of the Holy Spirit ; and that the advent 
of the Spirit is regulated by laws which place 
the blessing within our reach. 

Would that gospel hearers could all be pene- 
trated with the consciousness of their need of a 
more abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit! 
What longings after God, what breathings for 
new life, what a humbling sense of former cold- 
ness, and infirmity, and backsliding would it 
create ! 

All the powers, and enjoyments, and opera- 
tions of the spiritual life, must actually come to 
a pause, if our felt dependence upon God's 
Spirit is suffered to decline. Have we not great 
need to cry with the prophet, as he gazed on 
the valley of vision, " Come from the four winds, 
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that 
they may live!" There can be no life in the 
Church, but as it proceeds from, and is nourished 
by, the quickening Spirit of our risen and exalted 



BY THE CHURCHES. 239 

Lord. To press this great and solemn truth 
home upon the hearts of our readers will be 
the object of the following remarks, while we 
invite their prayerful attention to the following 
thoughts: 

I. Spiritual prosperity can only result from 
the copious descent of the Holy Grhost. 

" Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on 
high," there will be no decisive tokens of invigo- 
rated Christian life. All will be dreary waste, 
and absolute sterility and death, while apostate 
humanity remains without the visitation of a 
Divine and all-transforming power. 

1. Until the Spirit be poured upon us from 
on high, there can be no adequate and realizing 
impression of His character and work, as the 
great Agent of all spiritual life and holiness in 
our world. 

Men in their natural state of spiritual dark- 
ness and insensibility, live, and feel, and act, as 
if there were no Holy Ghost. They pursue 
their course on the principle that they are suffi- 
cient to their own guidance and happiness, and 
have no affecting sense of their need of a Divine 
and gracious power to raise them from that 
death in sin in which they lie. Though the 
Holy Spirit is an omniscient Agent, " searching 
all things, yea, the deep things of God" — 



240 THE BLESSING WANTED 

though he is Almighty, and the author of the 
inspiration of all the prophets and apostles — of 
all the miracles of which we read in the Old and 
New Testament Scriptures, and of all the con- 
versions that have ever taken place since the 
fall of man, yet the "natural man," that is, the 
unrenewed man, has no proper sense of his 
existence and agency in the Church; he is as 
indifferent to the great facts of his personality* 
Divinity, and saving operations, upon the minds 
of men, as if they were not a reality: he never 
feels his need of His quickening power, to raise 
him from his death in sin; and if at times he 
thinks of the Father of all, and of Jesus the 
Saviour of the world, he is never impressed with 
the thought that he needs or can receive any- 
thing from the Holy Ghost. This, it is to be 
feared, is very much the condition of all the 
unconverted. If in the theory of religion they 
have been taught, there is found the doctrine 
concerning the Divine Spirit, the Third Person 
in the adorable Trinity, yet in their inmost 
thoughts, in the constant workings of their in- 
telligent and accountable minds, there is no 
actual dependence upon the Spirit, no fervent 
desire rising to Him for his blessed influence — 
no abiding, operative sense of his all-pervading, 
necessary, and Divine agency. What a lament- 



BY THE CHURCHES. 241 

able and exposed state is this for any sinful 
being to live in from day to day ! Yet is it not 
the state of thousands and tens of thousands 
who sit under the sound of the gospel? The 
only 'power by which their state can be changed, 
even the power of the Holy Spirit, they feel 
not to need, and never ask in humble and 
earnest prayer his renewing and sanctifying 
grace. that all who are careless and uncon- 
cerned in reference to the Holy Spirit, could be 
brought to feel, that, in their present state of 
mind, they are riveting upon themselves the 
chain of depravity and unbelief, just because 
they are without any active and fervent desire 
for the descent and quickening energy of the 
Holy Spirit. 

2. Until the Spirit be poured upon us from 
on high, there will be but few Pentecostal 
movements in connection with the preaching of 
the word. 

The very tendency to look for such move- 
ments comes from the Holy Spirit. The vast 
majority of gospel hearers are not looking for 
another Pentecost. They are contented, or at 
least not uneasy, in their present depressed 
state, in so far as it respects the limited num- 
ber of conversions, as compared with the masses 
21* 



242 THE BLESSING WASTED 

who attend on the preaching of the word. We 
should be, in the present low state of the 
Church, astonished and overwhelmed if we were 
to hear of hundreds drawn to Christ by a 
single sermon. But such soul-animating sights 
cannot be seen but as the result of a mighty 
and merciful effusion of the Holy Spirit. It 
is not a few precious drops from the fructi- 
fying cloud that can refresh and fertilize the 
barren and parched soil; but' it is the warm 
and copious shower descending with a plentiful 
fulness that creates beauty, and verdure, and 
fruitfulness. And so it is under the minstry of 
the word. A few precious drops of Divine influ- 
ence will not relieve the barren wastes of mind, 
and create a Pentecostal awakening among the 
hearers of the gospel. We want " showers of 
blessing," — we want the Holy Spirit to be 
poured on ministers and people, in order to the 
realization of a great conversion-work. It is a 
mercy to see a few turning to God — to hear 
from one and another the importunate cry, " Sirs. 
what must we do to be saved ?" But why should 
so many remain unmoved beneath the sound of 
the word? Why should so many perish at 
mercy's threshhold, while so few look to Christ 
and are saved? Have you, dear reader, pon- 
dered well the grand reason? Have you been 



BY THE CHURCHES. 243 

impressed with the fact, that there is no shower, 
no mighty outpouring of Divine influence upon 
the ministry of the word. There may be evi- 
dence of the descent of the gentle dew — there 
may be, here and there, a few drops falling on 
the bleak and barren earth; but where can you 
see, in any of our religious circles, even the 
signs of a coming shower of heavenly blessings. 
and where can it be said that "the Spirit is 
largely poured out from on high?" Nor will 
the consummation, so devoutly to be wished, be 
realized under the preaching of the word, until 
"times of refreshing shall come from the pre- 
sence of the Lord." that we could see this 
state of things reversed, and find that every 
Sabbath was a Pentecost, and every sermon was 
the message of life and salvation to penetrated 
multitudes! What glorious work would preach- 
ing then be! What scenes of rejoicing and tri- 
umph would be the assemblies of Zion ! As in 
Jerusalem of old, great fear would come upon 
all who beheld the wondrous change, and there 
would be "added to the church daily such as 
should be saved;" while there would be joy 
among the angels of God, not over one return- 
ing prodigal, but over multitudes translated out 
of darkness into marvellous light. 



-44 THE BLESSING WANTED 

blessed power! gfariovs lay 

What a large ¥i - 
And converts, who thy grace >bey. 
Exceed the h : g = of morning dew. 

3. Until the Spirit be poured from :o_ high, 
the Christian Church will remain in a eom 
lively languishing and unp; 

It is a solemn but indubitable fact, that as 
the Church is. so must th- 1 be. If its 

spiritual temperature is low, the impression on 
the world will be faint, and feeble, and almost 
imperceptible. If it is powerfully upon 

by a remarkable outpouring of the Holj Spirit, 
then will it T :o in a posit:;:: :: tell ^::h resistless 
force and energy upon those who are without. 
A common-place profession of the gospel, free 
from outward blame, and orderly in the 
ance of religions duties, but devoid ::' leep-toned 
spirituality, active love, an :". I u ain g : - J for 
the honour of Christ, will never awe the world, 
or cause the thoughtless, the unconcerned, and 
the profane, to pause in then sareei offollj and 
impenitence. On the disciples of Christ, those 
who are pledged for the maintenance of his 
honour in the world, must fall a more plenteous 
effusion of the Holy Spirit, if showers ;: blessing 
are to descend upon the :»ut-field of the v oriel 
lying in the wicked one. 



BY. THE CHURCHES. 245 

Then, when the Church is converted, she will 
not onlv be prepared to strengthen her brethren, 
but she will be equipped for the great work 
which has been assigned to her instrumentality, 
viz. the conversion of the world. 

m will she have power with God. and will 
prevail. Her life, infused by the Church's glo- 
rious Head, will vitalize all around her, and 
within the circle ofher influence. She will look 
forth upon the world, "fair as the moon, clear 
as the sun, and terrible as an army with ban- 
ners/'' Her living, active power will be felt 
upon the inert masses of depravity and worldli- 
ness, Her benevolence will fall upon the self- 
ishness of mankind at large like the drops of 
morning dew. Her zeal will be exerted on 
behalf of the various objects of social, moral. 
spiritual misery and wretchedness. She 
will be in positive and palpable sympathy with 
Christ himself— living for him, acting for him. 
and i ing all her interests and all her hap- 

piness with the advancement of his honour, and 
the fflory :f his kingdom. 

But when, when, is the Church to reflect 
the bright image of her Lord? When is she to 
spring up in her apostolic vigour and purity": 
"When is she to show herself dead to the world. 
and alive to Christ? When is she to appear 



246 THE BLESSING WANTED 

the virtuous and uncontaminated spouse of her 
rightful Lord? When is she to prove herself 
the embodiment of her own principles? When 
is she to be purged from her petty strifes and 
bickerings, and to walk forth in her might and 
majesty, as the great philanthropist of human 
kind? When is she to become the fitting repre- 
sentative of her absent Lord, the guardian of 
his honour, and the herald of his coming king- 
dom and glory upon earth? Ah! when, dear 
friends? Only when " the Spirit is poured upon 
us from on high." Till then, the mass of pro- 
fessors will "seek their own things, not the 
things which are Jesus Christ's;" and in this 
depressed and enfeebled state must she remain 
until she goes forth out of herself, and seeks to 
draw in fresh life from Him who has said, " The 
water that I shall give you, shall be in you a 
well of water, springing up into everlasting 
life." 

This leads to the second deeply interesting 
portion of our theme. 

II. That the Advent of the Spirit is regu- 
lated by laws which place the blessing within 
our reach. 

1. The Spirit will be poured from on high, in 
answer to prayer. 

A prostrate Church, crying for the advent of 



BY THE CHURCHES. 247 

the Spirit, and panting for a new baptism of 
power from on high, would not struggle, and 
plead, and agonize in vain. God would then 
64 arise and have mercy on Zion; — the time, yea, 
the set time, to favour her," would then have 
arrived. The blessings of Messiah's reign would 
then "come down like rain upon the mown 
grass, and as showers that water the earth/' 
God would then be entreated of in reference to 
those great promises: "I will pour my Spirit 
upon all flesh;" "So shall he sprinkle many 
nations;" "When He, the Spirit of truth, is 
come, he shall convince the world of sin, of 
righteousness, and judgment." Yes, prayer, 
the prayer of faith, the prayer that never ceases, 
the prayer which rises around the throne like 
the voice of many waters, shall bring down 
streams of divine influence to refresh God's 
parched heritage, and to bless and fructify a 
barren and desolate world. 

Yes, and to this law of prayer every child of 
Adam is encouraged to look with hope, as it 
respects the descent of more copious supplies 
of Divine grace. Its provisions come within the 
reach of every anxious soul longing for the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost. Hear the voice of 
Jesus himself: "If ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how 



248 THE BLESSING WANTED 

much more shall your Heavenly Father give 
the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him." We 
have but to ask, and we shall receive; we have 
but to seek, and we shall find; we have but to 
knock, and the door shall be opened unto us. 
But God will be inquired of, if the Spirit is to 
be poured from on high. He will not squander 
his gifts upon an unexpectant Christian, or an 
unexpectant Church. If we would see God 
reviving his own work in the midst of the years, 
we must fall in with his own revealed plan, and 
prove by the fervour, and urgency, and confi- 
dence of our prayers, that we are longing for, 
and ready to welcome the copious and refreshing 
descent of the Holy Ghost. 

2. The Spirit will be poured from on high, 
when the church is in a better frame for his 
advent. 

She must prepare herself as a bride prepareth 
herself for her Bridegroom. Christ will come 
in power and great glory to his Church, when 
she is in a posture of readiness for so august a 
visitor. The Holy Spirit is looking to the 
Church for a responsive echo of his own teach- 
ing and influence in the minds of men. He 
will not with impunity be grieved — he will not 
be quenched, by our apathy, our cold hearted- 
ness, our undue love of present things, our 



BY THE CHURCHES. 249 

unloving tempers, our grievous backslidings, our 
strifes and divisions, our little petty animosities, 
our sad and mournful falls. He expects us to 
be responsive to hi3 suggestions, to be obedient 
to his impulses, to be temples for his reception, 
dedicated to his praise. Let us ponder these 
thoughts, and lay them to heart, and then may 
we expect, individually and collectively, that the 
Spirit will be poured from on high upon us. 

3. The Spirit will be poured from op high 
when the testimony of-i : > trutn is J elded to 
with grateful and Smesisting submission. 

The Holy Spirit speaks in the word. It is 
his whole testimony concerning all things in 
which perishing sinners are most vitally con- 
cerned. He expects that we will hear his voice 
in the written word, and not "harden our hearts, 
as in the provocation, as in the day of tempta- 
tion in the wilderness.'' When the Bible has its 
place in our thoughts, and convictions, and feel- 
ings, and purposes, and plans, and when the 
Church shall thus honour the Bible as the testi- 
mony of the Spirit — then will the Spirit be 
poured upon us from on high; and all Zion's 
waste places will be refreshed and fertilized by 
the presence and glory of the Lord. 

0, then, dear readers, if you would realize 

the blessing promised, if you would live to see 
29 



250 BLESSING WANTED BY THE CHURCHES. 

the Spirit poured out from on high, and the wil- 
derness changed into a fruitful field, reverence, 
examine, believe, prize, ponder, pray over your 
Bibles. There only can you find the lessons of 
the Spirit; and while you are struggling on the 
bended knee of prayer to become acquainted 
with them, you may expect, you may hope, you 
may even be confident that the Spirit will be 
poured from on high, and that your souls will 
becoire as a garden which the Lord himself hath 
watered.'' ' ^ - 



THE END. 



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NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

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